Benchmarks trade higher on firm global cues; Nifty regains 9,600 mark

Buoyed by firm global cues, Indian equity benchmarks have made a positive start and are trading in fine fettle in early deals on Monday, with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial 9,600 (Nifty ) and 31,100 (Sensex) levels. Traders took some support with report that the GST Council will fix nagging issues and the government putting at rest speculation about a possible delay in GST rollout. Some support also came with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the government will let companies to file late returns for the first two months to let them adapt to a new system. Meanwhile, the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said India Inc is ready for the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1, as the new indirect tax regime will contribute significantly towards economic growth, job creation and exports expansion.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green at this point of time, as traders took some comfort with a member of the US president’s legal team stating that President Donald Trump isn’t under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. The US markets ended modestly in red in the last session on another round of downbeat economic data.

Back home, banking stocks remained buzzing as the bankers are meeting from today to finalise their next course of action on six of the 12 bad loan accounts for immediate referral to NCLT after the RBI named the largest defaulters to face bankruptcy proceedings. Stocks related to steel sector too edged higher, as the Centre has said it will ensure that steel products are not imported in the guise of utensils or finished products.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31184.44, up by 128.04 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 31163.35 and 31247.69. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.08%, while Small cap index was up by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.81%, FMCG up by 0.67%, Metal up by 0.60%, Telecom up by 0.57% and Consumer Durables up by 0.54%, while Realty down by 0.94% and Healthcare was down by 0.61% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports up by 2.19%, Reliance Industries up by 1.52%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.35%, TCS up by 1.33% and Tata Steel up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.50%, Lupin down by 1.08%, Tata Motors down by 0.97%, Sun Pharma down by 0.81% and Coal India down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council at its 17th meeting fixed some nagging issues and the government put at rest the speculation about a possible delay in GST rollout. The council also approved the creation of an anti-profiteering authority that will exist for two years. It will take the final call on whether a company has engaged in profiteering. If it has, the amount will have to be refunded to consumers and if that’s not possible, given to the consumer welfare fund.

The Council also decided to defer the dates of filing the detailed return for July and August also approved the rules for advance ruling, appeals and revisions, assessment, anti-profiteering, and fund settlements. Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said that the current dates are that the GSTR 1 form, with invoice-wise details, has to be filed by the 10th of the month following the assessing month, but, to give some relief to businesses getting ready, we have decided to introduce a new form GSTR 3B that will need to be filed by August 20 for July and September 20 for August.

In its other decisions, the council decided to increase the room tariff threshold, above which the luxury rate of 28% will apply, to Rs 7,500 from the Rs 5,000 decided earlier, that means that hotel rates between Rs 2,500-7,500 will be at 18%.  Some States, especially Goa and Rajasthan had made representations for the relook of the rates on hotels.It also decided that State-run lotteries will fall in the 12% tax bracket, while all others will be taxed at 28%.

The contentious E-way bill was discussed at length but could not be finalised because of divergent opinions among states. The E-way draft bill mandates that any transfer of goods over Rs 50,000 will need an E-way permit for transfer within and outside a state. Finance minister Arun Jaitley said until a final decision is taken, existing provisions would prevail.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9618.30, up by 30.25 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 9618.25 and 9638.75. There were 32 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports up by 1.98%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.88%, Reliance Industries up by 1.44%, Tata Steel up by 1.31% and TCS up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.43%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.24%, Yes Bank down by 1.17%, Lupin down by 1.11% and Tata Motors down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index gained 7.75 points or 0.33% to 2,369.58, Jakarta Composite rose 13.49 points or 0.24% to 5,737.13, Shanghai Composite increased 20.61 points or 0.66% to 3,143.77, Taiwan Weighted surged 85.04 points or 0.84% to 10,241.77, Nikkei 225 added 129.58 points or 0.65% to 20,072.84 and Hang Seng was up by 241.53 points or 0.94% to 25,868.02.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 2.72 points or 0.15% to 1,788.59.