Bourses turn positive to hover near day’s high

The equity benchmarks turned positive in late afternoon session to hover near their intraday highs, backed by robust buying in Consumer Durables and Auto stocks. Traders took encouragement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that the recently introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime will further improve India’s ranking in the ease of doing business and pointed that the recent ranking did not take into account implementation of GST. Adding some optimism, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said that India offers ‘golden opportunities’ for global investors in sectors such as infrastructure, transport, agriculture and food processing. Positive mood over broader indices and some recovery in Asian markets, too contributed to the gains. Meanwhile, over 1,000 fresh foreign investors were registered with SEBI in April-September 2017-18, primarily due to their continued interest in the Indian capital markets.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red as investors focus on earnings and monitor President Donald Trump's comments in Asia. However, Asian markets were trading mostly in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Loyal Equipments touched the roof after the company received a Letter of Intent (LOI) worth Rs 650 lakh from Burckhardt Compression (India) for supply of Console & Pressure Vessels.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33797.41, up by 111.85 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 33582.38 and 33848.42. 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 0.56%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 8.62%, Auto up by 1.54%, Consumer Disc up by 1.37%, Industrials up by 0.93% and IT up by 0.78%, while Telecom down by 0.49%, Energy down by 0.39%, Bankex down by 0.16% and Power down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors - DVR up by 4.68%, ONGC up by 3.66%, Tata Motors up by 3.42%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.35% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.56%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.41%, Axis Bank down by 1.19%, Reliance Industries down by 0.99%, Lupin down by 0.83% and Asian Paints down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting India’s recent significant jump in World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed confidence that recently introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime will further improve India’s ranking in the ease of doing business, pointing that the recent ranking did not take into account implementation of GST.

PM further emphasized that the country is swiftly changing for the better amid various reforms initiated by the government and a result of this, India has in three years jumped 42 places to break into top 100 countries on World Bank's ease of doing business ranking. PM said that GST and other different reforms need gestation and stabilisation time before they are taken into account by the World Bank and will further improve the ranking.

PM also listed out more positive aspects of the new tax regime, saying that GST has not just integrated the nation of 1.2 billion into one market with one tax rate but also provided a stable and transparent taxation regime.  He added that under GST regime, tax filing and registration of new business has also got easier. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10473.30, up by 20.80 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 10413.75 and 10490.45. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.43%, ONGC up by 3.36%, Tata Motors up by 3.04%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.48% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.61%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 2.24%, BPCL down by 1.61%, Indusind Bank down by 1.46%, UPL down by 1.43% and Zee Entertainment down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.53 points or 0.09% to 1,742.46, Nikkei 225 increased 9.23 points or 0.04% to 22,548.35, Jakarta Composite increased 9.76 points or 0.16% to 6,049.31 and Shanghai Composite increased 16.43 points or 0.49% to 3,388.17. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted decreased 14.58 points or 0.13% to 10,786.19, KOSPI Index decreased 8.56 points or 0.33% to 2,549.41 and Hang Seng decreased 6.81 points or 0.02% to 28,596.80.

European markets were trading mostly in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 24.09 points or 0.18% to 13,454.77 and France’s CAC decreased 16.38 points or 0.3% to 5,501.59. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.04 points or 0% to 7,560.39.