Markets turn positive as BJP leads in Gujarat, Himachal

Equity benchmarks turned positive as the Sensex recovered more than 900 points from opening lows to trade higher, after BJP took comfortable leads in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. It is almost a U-turn for equity benchmarks as after falling more than 800 points in opening, the Sensex is currently trading with over 200 points gains and the Nifty reclaimed its 10,350 level. Sentiments also remained up-beat with data from the commerce department, which showed that India’s exports rose at a faster clip in November, reversing the contraction in the previous month. Exports grew 30.6 per cent in November from a year ago, while imports rose 19.6 per cent. Traders also took some encouragement with statement of an UN expert that India can achieve an eight percent growth rate for the next two decades by promoting investment and improving the living conditions of its people.

Global cues too remained supportive with Asian markets trading mostly in green at this point of time after a Republican agreement on the shape of US tax cuts aimed at boosting growth in the world’s largest economy. The US markets moved higher in the last session, lifting all three of the major averages to new record closing highs, as traders expressed optimism about Republican lawmakers passing tax reform legislation.

Back home, in a bid to plug gaps, the all- powerful GST Council has decided to implement the e-way bill mechanism throughout the country by June 1 after reviewing the readiness of the IT network. Under the e-way bill system, goods worth more than Rs 50,000 have to be pre-registered online before they can be moved from one state to another. Meanwhile, Future Supply Chain Solutions, the logistics arm of the Future Group, made a decent debut and are trading with a gain of around 2% in early deals.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33695.54, up by 232.57 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 32595.63 and 33699.46. There were 28 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.44%, while Small cap index was up by 0.31%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.30%, Capital Goods up by 0.84%, Consumer Durables up by 0.64%, Industrials up by 0.56% and Bankex was up by 0.54%, while IT down by 0.71%, TECK down by 0.55%, FMCG down by 0.39% and Power was down by 0.32% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports up by 1.85%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.64%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.21%, ICICI Bank up by 0.91% and SBI up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.40%, TCS down by 1.22%, ITC down by 0.79%, Infosys down by 0.76% and HDFC down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to bring uniformity across states for seamless inter-state movement of goods, the all-powerful Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has decided to go for early implementation of electronic-way bill or e-way bill from February 1, 2018 and uniform mandatory compliance from June 1, 2018. As a nationwide e-way bill system will be ready for implementation on a trial basis by January 16, transporters can start using this system on a voluntary basis from the same date. Earlier, the Council stated that the e-way bill be introduced across India in a staggered manner from January 1, 2018 and the document will be made compulsory by April 1, 2018.

The Council, in its 24th meeting, has said that the rules for implementation of nationwide e-way bill system for inter-state movement of goods on a compulsory basis will be notified with effect from February 1, 2018. Under GST rules, ferrying goods worth more than Rs 50,000 within or outside a state will require securing an electronic-way or e-way bill by prior online registration of the consignment. When goods are transported for less than 10 km within the state, the supplier or the transporter need not furnish details on the portal. To generate an e-way bill, the supplier and transporter will have to upload details on the GST Network portal, after which a unique e-way bill number (EBN) will be made available to the supplier, the recipient and the transporter on the common portal.

The Finance Ministry, in its statement, has clarified that the states may choose their own timings for implementation of e-Way Bill for intra-state movement of goods on any date before June 1, 2018. It added that there are certain states which are already having system of e-Way Bill for intra-state as well as inter-state movement and some of those states can be early adopters of national e-Way Bill system for intra-state movement also. Till such time as National e-way Bill is ready, the states were authorised to continue their own separate e-Way Bill systems. However, implementation of e-Way Bill for intra-state movement will done in a staggered manner from February.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10383.95, up by 50.70 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 10074.80 and 10412.30. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 3.20%, Cipla up by 2.43%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.14%, Adani Ports up by 1.96% and GAIL India up by 1.93%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.20%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.18%, UPL down by 1.14%, HCL Tech. down by 1.02% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.83% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index rose 4.47 points or 0.18% to 2,486.54, Taiwan Weighted gained 24.11 points or 0.23% to 10,515.55, Hang Seng increased 153.74 points or 0.53% to 29,001.85 and Nikkei 225 was up by 329.31 points or 1.46% to 22,882.53.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 30.88 points or 0.5% to 6,088.54, Shanghai Composite slipped 4.13 points or 0.13% to 3,262.01 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.88 points or 0.22% to 1,749.19.