Firm trade prevails in morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in green in morning session on account of buying in frontline counters. The rupee opened higher against dollar amid fresh selling of American currency from exporters and banks. Foreign Portfolio Investors poured Rs 1,380 crore in domestic equity markets on Friday with gross purchases and gross sales stood at Rs 11,584.53 crore and Rs 10,204.39 crore, respectively. Traders took some encouragement with the private report that the government’s recapitalization plan for public sector banks is likely to propel credit growth by up to 700 basis points to 15% and as consequence push up GDP numbers to 7% in the next fiscal. The report highlighted that the industry is likely to see a 7% growth in 2018-19 from 5% in the current fiscal. Services is projected to grow at 7.3% in the current fiscal and rise to 7.5% in the succeeding year. The street reacted positively to the meeting outcome of the ministerial panel working to make GST composition scheme more attractive, which suggested slashing tax rate to 1%  for manufacturers and restaurants, while easier norms for traders opting for it.

Meanwhile, investors took note that India expects a big jump in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking that will be released soon, thanks to multiple reforms initiated by the government beginning to show results. Ranked at 130 in the last reckoning, the government has set itself a target of breaking into the top 50. Separately, Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India will grow at over 8% consistently due to reforms.  Goyal added that the railways is looking to invest over $150 billion over the next five years which would help create one million additional jobs. Additionally, FM Arun Jaitley has enlightened that individual tax base is growing with India having the lowest direct tax slab in the world, digital transactions are rising, and the new insolvency law will yield positive results. 

Traders were seen piling up position in Oil & Gas, PSU and Consumer Durables sector stocks. Select auto related stocks were buzzing as the Union road transport ministry approved the timeline for the implementation of system which requires all cars manufactured after July 1, 2019, to be equipped with airbags, seat-belt reminders, alert systems for speeds beyond 80kmph, reverse parking alerts, as well as manual override over the central locking system for emergencies. In scrip specific development, Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC) was trading in red as the company reported Rs 62.57 crore loss for the second quarter ended September 30, 2017-18. The company had posted net profit of Rs 15.01 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green. Activity in China’s manufacturing sector likely grew at a slightly slower pace in October as the government began a major crackdown on air pollution, ordering many steel mills, smelters and factories to curtail or halt production over the winter. Back home, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were trading above the psychological 33,200 and 10,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1652:665, while 124 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33295.95, up by 138.73 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 33206.93 and 33332.06. 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 1.24%, while Small cap index was up by 1.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.61%, PSU up by 1.50%, Consumer Durables up by 1.30%, Telecom up by 1.20% and Energy up by 1.15%, while there were no losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.97%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.63%, SBI up by 1.56%, ICICI Bank up by 1.51% and Tata Motors up by 1.30%.
On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.72%, Tata Steel down by 1.10%, Wipro down by 0.76%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.75% and Cipla down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) chairperson Vanaja N Sarna has said that disruption caused by the goods and services tax (GST) rollout may hamper government’s indirect revenue collection target for the year 2017-18. She indicated that the government had budgeted Rs 9.68 trillion collection from customs and GST for the year ending March 2018. However, she said that the government has made it clear that it has no plans to revise the revenue collection target for the year.

Besides, Sarna pointed out that the department will not penalise traders for any default on tax payment at the moment. She said “It is not our job to penalise traders at the moment. This is despite the fact that our intelligence officials are constantly keeping a close watch on the entire development related to GST.”

CBEC chairperson said that customs has done well but they have to wait till the GST rollout settles down. She also noted that right now, the priority of the department is to be a facilitator for a smooth rollout of the new tax regime. Adding further, she stated that the government has, so far, disbursed Rs 200 crore refunds to the exporters. Earlier, the CBEC had said that the government is considering measures to help exporters whose working capital has been blocked due to delayed refunds after the GST rollout.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10374.60, up by 51.55 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 10344.30 and 10383.80. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 2.98%, ONGC up by 2.69%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.15%, Yes Bank up by 1.87% and Bharti Infratel up by 1.82%.
On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.25%, Tata Steel down by 1.13%, Cipla down by 1.11%, Wipro down by 1.06% and Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 0.93% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.68 points or 0.1% to 1,747.81, KOSPI Index increased 3.53 points or 0.14% to 2,500.16, Jakarta Composite increased 27.75 points or 0.46% to 6,003.03, Hang Seng increased 29.92 points or 0.11% to 28,468.77 and Taiwan Weighted increased 80.98 points or 0.76% to 10,790.09.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite decreased 23.74 points or 0.69% to 3,393.07 and Nikkei 225 decreased 17.57 points or 0.08% to 21,990.88.