Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in green in afternoon deals

Mirroring positive global cues, Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in afternoon session, on the back of sustained buying by domestic institutional investors and retailers. Traders reacted positively to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council relaxing return filing rules for businesses for the first two months of the rollout of the new indirect tax regime even as it stuck to the 1 July launch date. Some support also came with the report that the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) constituted the Goods and Services Tax (GST) facilitation cell to address any tax issue that can come up in sectors related to the department. Meanwhile, Indian rupee strengthened marginally against the US dollar, tracking gains in the Asian currencies markets. In scrip specific development, Vedanta rose by around two percent on reports that the company plans to set up a steel plant in Jharkhand in joint venture with Jharkhand Mineral Development Corporation.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as markets geared up ahead of Brexit negotiations between the U.K. & the European Union and kept an eye on a deadly attack on worshipers leaving a mosque in London. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31202.08, up by 145.68 points or 0.47% 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 0.16%, while Small cap index up by 0.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.72%, Metal up by 0.72%, Energy up by 0.71%, Basic Materials up by 0.54% and Telecom up by 0.49%, while Healthcare down by 0.53%, Realty down by 0.45%, IT down by 0.04% and PSU down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.25%, Tata Steel up by 1.73%, Reliance Industries up by 1.57%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.45% and TCS up by 1.44%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.06%, Coal India down by 1.17%, ONGC down by 1.11%, Infosys down by 0.98% and Sun Pharma down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to boost Indian electronics and software manufacturing industry, the government will come out with a new policy for electronics and software production, as well as for data protection and will set up innovative zones for start-ups. The Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad exuded his confidence that India is well-positioned to become a $1 trillion digital economy in next few years.

The minister said that they will be shortly laying down the new electronics policy because between the old policy and now, India has changed completely. He noted that the new policy will look at growth areas in electronics manufacturing segment. Adding further, he said that there is need to look at inward software market and therefore, they will come with a new software product policy. He added that they are going to have framework for data security and protection policy.

Noting that India ranks third among global startup ecosystems, the Minister said that the country needed to have start-up clusters for facilitations. To help create Special Innovative Zones, he further said that they are working on a framework for a Start-ups Cluster Policy in coordination with Nasscom and the Data Security Council of India. Highlighting the potential of the new economy with avenues like digital payments and e-commerce, Prasad pointed out that the focus needs to be on creating technology that is affordable, developmental and inclusive.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9623.35, up by 35.30 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 9614.90 and 9638.75. There were 30 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.16%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.92%, Tata Steel up by 1.79%, Reliance Industries up by 1.50% and TCS up by 1.39%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.05%, ONGC down by 1.44%, Coal India down by 1.41%, Infosys down by 1.02% and Sun Pharma down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 9.07 points or 0.38% to 2,370.90, Jakarta Composite surged 10.55 points or 0.18% to 5,734.18, Shanghai Composite rose 12.07 points or 0.39% to 3,135.24, Taiwan Weighted added 93.87 points or 0.92% to 10,250.60, Nikkei 225 was up by 124.49 points or 0.62% to 20,067.75 and Hang Seng increased 255.02 points or 1% to 25,881.51.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.69 points or 0.21% to 1,787.62.