Key indices add gains amid firm global cues

Indian equity markets extended their gains in afternoon session on fresh buying by investors, amid a firm trend in Asian markets. Sentiments remained up-beat with industry body Assocham’s statement that the government’s decision to hike the minimum support price (MSP) for 14 khariff crops would boost farmers’ income, resulting in a huge rural demand push to the Indian economy. The domestic sentiment was also buoyed with a report by the World Trade Organization (WTO) showing that India has initiated far more number of measures widely considered to be trade restricting since last year, when the US and China began locking horns on a global trade war spanning hundreds of billions of dollars. Besides, strengthening of rupee against the dollar too propped up the domestic sentiment. On the sectoral front, power sector remained in focus with the power ministry mulling a reward of Rs 50 lakh for state utilities employees and a grant of Rs 50 crore for discoms which will meet household electrification target under Saubhagya scheme at the earliest.

On the global front, All the Asian Markets were surging, as upbeat U.S. jobs data for the month of June helped offset worries about rising U.S.-China trade tensions. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35882.47, up by 224.61 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 35779.72 and 35931.09. There were 26 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.16%, while Small cap index was up by 1.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.39%, Healthcare up by 1.25%, Industrials up by 1.20%, Power up by 1.17% and Utilities up by 1.07%,  while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 2.64%, Vedanta up by 2.60%, Axis Bank up by 2.50%, Sun Pharma up by 2.10% and Asian Paints up by 1.88%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.25%, Coal India down by 0.50%, HDFC down by 0.21%, Indusind Bank down by 0.16% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has said that the all-powerful Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council will consider bringing petroleum products within the purview of GST regime and it could happen in phases. He noted that at present, the petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel are beyond the scope of GST and added that this gives states the right to impose a value-added tax on these items.

Talking on the issue of automation of refund, Adhia said that it was meant to be automated right from day one but unfortunately people made so many mistakes in filing return that the income-tax department had to get into manual mode at the last moment. He said ‘we are again trying to make it completely automatic, the entire refund process. This is the next thing. In terms of simplification of rates, slabs, we do understand need for it, but we did what was best in the given scenario’. He also said ‘we could not have done anything other than this because we had to take care of revenue, we had to take care of concern of the poor. Certainly, we must move in that direction of something better than that’.

The GST currently has four slabs -- 5 percent, 12 percent, 18 percent and 28 percent. The GST Council, in November, had reduced the tax rate on 178 items from 28 percent to 18 percent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10837.60, up by 64.95 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 10807.15 and 10844.70. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 2.85%, Axis Bank up by 2.74%, Yes Bank up by 2.54%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.47% and Sun Pharma up by 2.19%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.33%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.12%, Zee Entertainment down by 0.58%, Coal India down by 0.53% and HDFC down by 0.37% were the top losers.

All the Asian Markets were surging; Nikkei 225 increased 264.04 points or 1.2% to 22,052.18, Hang Seng rose 495.27 points or 1.72% to 28,810.89, KOSPI added 12.93 points or 0.57% to 2,285.80, Shanghai Composite was up by 61.47 points or 2.19% to 2,808.70, Taiwan Weighted increased 111.71 points or 1.04% to 10,720.28, Straits Times added 39.35 points or 1.22% to 3,231.17 and Jakarta Composite inched up 70.51 points or 1.22% to 5,765.42.