Indian markets continue firm trade in noon session

Maintaining most of their early gains, Indian equity indices continued to trade firm in noon session as investors remained optimistic after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India will launch a new national Goods and Services Tax (GST) as planned on July 1 and gave return filing breather to India Inc for two months. Adding optimism among investors, the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said India Inc is ready for the implementation of the GST from July 1, as the new indirect tax regime will contribute significantly towards economic growth, job creation and exports expansion. Besides, firm global cues, after French President Emmanuel Macron's party won a parliamentary majority at the weekend, added to the optimistic sentiments.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher on Monday, shaking off Wall Street's subdued performance on Friday. Investors maintained cautious stance ahead of Brexit negotiations between the UK and the European Union and kept an eye on a deadly attack on worshipers leaving a mosque in London. China stocks rose on signs that tight liquidity conditions were easing and as fewer new listings were expected to come onto the market. Chinese investors are awaiting a decision by U.S. index provider MSCI, which will decide on June 20 whether to include A shares in its Emerging Market Index. Meanwhile, Japanese stocks is higher as the dollar's steady performance against the yen fuelled buying in stock futures, while Nomura Real Estate dived after saying a stake purchase in the company by Japan Post was no longer being considered.

Back home, stocks from Telecom, Energy and FMCG counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Realty, Healthcare and IT counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) gained after the company’s construction arm has won orders worth Rs 2,231 crore across various business segments. Furthermore, Eros International gained after the company inked two-film co-production deal with leading Turkish film company Pana Film.

The market breadth remained optimistic, as there were 1211 shares on the gaining side against 1133 shares on the losing side, while 134 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31218.71, up by 162.31 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 31163.35 and 31247.69. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13%, while Small cap index up by 0.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.82%, Energy up by 0.80%, FMCG up by 0.72%, Metal up by 0.55% and Capital Goods up by 0.49%, while Realty down by 0.69%, Healthcare down by 0.52% and IT down by 0.08% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.89%, Reliance Industries up by 1.76%, Tata Steel up by 1.54%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.45% and TCS up by 1.44%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.13%, Coal India down by 1.35%, ONGC down by 1.17%, Infosys down by 1.09% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, 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 9625.75, up by 37.70 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 9614.90 and 9638.75. There were 29 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 2.05%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.82%, Reliance Industries up by 1.67%, Tata Steel up by 1.59% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.28%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.13%, Coal India down by 1.51%, ONGC down by 1.47%, Indiabulls Housing down by 1.12% and Infosys down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index gained 0.33%, Jakarta Composite rose 0.18%, Shanghai Composite increased 0.52%, Taiwan Weighted surged 0.92%, Nikkei 225 added 0.59% and Hang Seng was up by 0.97%.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.21%.