Sensex, Nifty trade range-bound

Holding their earlier gains, benchmarks traded range-bound in late afternoon session, with Nifty trading around 10,000 mark. Buying in Metal, Realty and Energy stocks along with better earnings result, kept the markets up. Sentiments remained upbeat with report that the government approved an addition of 7.47 lakh new registration applications under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. Besides, the report stating that a team of officers, led by the commerce secretary, is holding detailed consultations with states to clear the bottlenecks that are hampering exports, also added some optimism. However, traders remained on sidelines ahead of the July derivatives contract expiry tomorrow and the outcome from the Federal Reserve meet later in the day.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green as investors geared up for a rate decision from the US Federal Reserve and continued to digest earnings reports. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Indraprastha Gas (IGL) gained after the company revised the selling prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) in NCT of Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad. This step has been taken by the company in order to offset the overall impact on its costs after transition to GST regime.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32332.35, up by 104.08 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 32226.08 and 32413.63. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.17%, while Small cap index was up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.69%, Realty up by 0.92%, Energy up by 0.78%, Utilities up by 0.77% and Healthcare up by 0.66%, while Telecom down by 0.51%, TECK down by 0.47% and IT down by 0.30% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.39%, Sun Pharma up by 1.91%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.47%, Cipla up by 1.37% and ICICI Bank up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.98%, Asian Paints down by 2.17%, TCS down by 0.68%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.61% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has claimed that Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime has brought about reduction in tax rates of most of the commodities to be consumed by the weaker sections of society. Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar elaborating it has said that the GST’s self policing mechanism will bring about transparency and accountability in business transactions, ensuring the gains are passed on in the form of reduced prices of goods and services.

Gangwar further said that the GST would positively impact the country’s business environment and help the domestic sectors become more competitive.

The Minister of State for Finance also said that following the GST implementation, the government will soon come up with an anti-profiteering authority which will help to ensure the benefit of tax reduction is passed on to consumers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9998.75, up by 34.20 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 9965.95 and 10010.80. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 2.75%, Tata Steel up by 2.56%, Sun Pharma up by 2.13%, IndusInd Bank up by 2.10% and Eicher Motors up by 1.96%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 3.03%, Asian Paints down by 1.75%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.60%, ACC down by 1.47% and HCL Tech. down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.36 points or 0.08% to 1,764.70, Shanghai Composite increased 3.99 points or 0.12% to 3,247.68, Hang Seng increased 88.97 points or 0.33% to 26,941.02 and Nikkei 225 increased 94.96 points or 0.48% to 20,050.16. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 44.04 points or 0.42% to 10,419.11, Jakarta Composite decreased 22.6 points or 0.39% to 5,790.93 and KOSPI Index decreased 5.39 points or 0.22% to 2,434.51.

All European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 35.27 points or 0.68% to 5,196.35, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 46.83 points or 0.63% to 7,481.65 and Germany’s DAX increased 49.01 points or 0.4% to 12,313.32.