Bourses remain in negative terrain in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained in negative terrain in the afternoon session, on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters taking cues from weak global counterparts. The sentiments remained on pessimistic mood with the inclusion of Chinese mainland stocks to the MSCI index, which could lead to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of share purchases, shrinking shares of other emerging markets, including India. Some weakness also came with Fitch Ratings’ latest report indicating that demonetization of old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes had a material impact on spending as reflected in significant slowing of GDP growth in January-March, and warned that the ongoing steep decline in investment could spell risks to growth potential. Moreover, depreciation in Indian rupee for the second day in a row on account of appreciation of the dollar overseas, too dampened investors’ sentiments. In scrip specific development, Alembic Pharmaceuticals was up by over one and half percent after receiving US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) approval for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Candesartan Cilexetil Tablets, 32 mg.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, tracking the weak cues overnight from Wall Street after crude oil futures tumbled into negative territory. Investor reaction was muted to news that U.S. index provider MSCI has decided to add Chinese A-shares into its benchmark Emerging Markets Index. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31242.79, down by 54.74 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 31193.61 and 31305.60. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.21%, while Small cap index up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.93%, Capital Goods up by 0.59%, FMCG up by 0.25%, Industrials up by 0.10% and Consumer Disc up by 0.07%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.66%, IT down by 0.64%, TECK down by 0.57%, Metal down by 0.43% and Auto down by 0.42% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 0.73%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.60%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.58%, Reliance Industries up by 0.41% and Sun Pharma up by 0.38%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.96%, Lupin down by 1.58%, Tata Motors down by 1.42%, TCS down by 1.33% and Cipla down by 1.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to ensure the smooth roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has notified 18 sections of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act which will be effective from June 22, 2017. The notified sections include - compulsory registration in certain cases, persons liable for registration, persons not liable for registration along with procedure for registration. The CBEC also notified two CGST Rule that are on registration and composition levy.

The apex policy making body for indirect taxes also issued notification that ‘www.gst.gov.in’ will be the common GST electronic portal for facilitating registration, payment of tax,  furnishing of returns, computation & settlement of integrated tax and electronic way bill. Besides, the CBEC notified modes of verification of any document to be furnished under Rule 26 of the CGST.

Every business carrying out a taxable supply of goods or services with turnover exceeding the threshold limit of Rs 20 lakh will be required to register. Input service distributor, e-commerce operator and person supplying online information and data base access or retrieval service are also required to register, while agriculturist is exempted from registration to the extent of supply of produce out of cultivation of land. A person with multiple business verticals in a state may obtain a separate registration for each business vertical.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9623.40, down by 30.10 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 9609.35 and 9650.45. There were 13 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 0.91%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.81%, Bank of Baroda up by 0.81%, Reliance Industries up by 0.54% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.53%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.13%, Cipla down by 1.86%, BPCL down by 1.80%, Bosch down by 1.69% and Lupin down by 1.60% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 118.88 points or 0.46% to 25,724.16, Nikkei 225 dipped 91.62 points or 0.45% to 20,138.79, KOSPI Index was down by 11.7 points or 0.49% to 2,357.53 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 3.78 points or 0.21% to 1,776.93.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 0.51 points or 0.01% to 5,792.42, Shanghai Composite was up by 6.98 points or 0.22% to 3,146.99 and Taiwan Weighted rose 25.26 points or 0.24% to 10,349.72.