Markets hold gains; Lupin top gainer

Key Indian benchmarks held on to their gains in late afternoon session, on the back of continued buying at Utilities, Energy, Power and IT counters. Traders were taking encouragement with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the GST transition has been fairly smooth for states as they are adopting it at a fast pace despite attempts to derail its implementation. The FM further expressed optimism about the country, saying that India is now becoming capable of taking big decisions and implementing them at a large-scale. Besides, some support also came with Agriculture secretary Shobhana K Pattanayak’s statement that India is headed for a good rabi season despite below normal monsoon rains, thanks to a surge of rainfall in the last week of September that replenished soil moisture. In line with larger peers, the broader markets too continued their firm trade by gaining more than half a percent each. Meanwhile, NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy, who heads the five-member Economic Advisory Council (EAC), said that enhancement of productivity is important for a country to increase its national income.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red, as investors monitored the ongoing political uncertainty in the Catalonia region of Spain. Asian markets were trading mostly in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Rai Saheb Rekhchand Mohota Spinning & Weaving Mills (RSR) traded jubilantly after the company entered into joint venture agreement (JVA) with Armors Developers for the multi-use development project with an estimate value of Rs 300 crore. The development project spread over-2 acres with total development targeted of 3,33,000 square feet will be completed over 18 months starting October 2017 through Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31949.18, up by 102.29 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 31896.90 and 31994.77. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.57%, while Small cap index was up by 0.82%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.93%, Energy up by 0.81%, Power up by 0.71%, IT up by 0.69% and Healthcare up by 0.58%, while Realty down by 0.65%, Metal down by 0.42% and FMCG down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 1.69%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.54%, Reliance Industries up by 1.42%, Infosys up by 1.32% and Axis Bank up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.41%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.23%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.59%, ICICI Bank down by 0.53% and ITC down by 0.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting the smooth transition of the recently introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the new tax regime transition has been fairly smooth for states as they are adopting it at a fast pace despite attempts to derail its implementation. The FM further expressed optimism about the country and noted that global integration of Indian economy is happening at a time when other economies are becoming more protectionist.

Jaitley said that under the GST the government has unveiled attractive schemes to ensure that the non-compliant in India become compliant. He added that the lowest slab in India is five per cent, which doesn't exist anywhere in the world. That is because of the non-compliant tax character of the Indian society. You make it easy for people to enter the taxation system that you are able to expand. In the GST, for up to 10 million turnover we now have a scheme for them.

Arun Jaitley also highlighted the government's other initiatives like easing FDI norms and Digital India Programme, while asserting that India is now a better place to do business on the back of such initiatives. He also ensured that India is now becoming capable of taking big decisions and implementing them at a large-scale. Besides, Finance Minister noted improvements of infrastructure and power sectors, by saying that as many as 250 highways projects are under construction and the country is now having surplus power along with capacity of Indian ports have been expanded.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10014.50, up by 25.75 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 10002.30 and 10034.00. There were 28 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 2.54%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.82%, Lupin up by 1.49%, Reliance Industries up by 1.46% and Indusind Bank up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 1.45%, Tata Steel down by 1.34%, HPCL down by 1.08%, Eicher Motors down by 0.75% and Ambuja Cement down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 8.61 points or 0.26% to 3,382.99, KOSPI Index increased 39.34 points or 1.64% to 2,433.81, Nikkei 225 increased 132.8 points or 0.64% to 20,823.51 and Hang Seng increased 164.24 points or 0.58% to 28,490.83. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 10.72 points or 0.18% to 5,904.22 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 2.9 points or 0.16% to 1,761.13.

European markets were trading mostly in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 34.14 points or 0.26% to 12,942.26 and France’s CAC decreased 5.28 points or 0.1% to 5,360.55. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 7.64 points or 0.1% to 7,515.53.