Local equities continue to show positive trend

Local equity benchmarks continued to show a positive trend in morning session, with gains of around half a percent, ahead of the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India braces for its next meet, it might review its forecast of inflation, the most important input for monetary policy-making, again. Traders took support from Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that 70 lakh jobs were created in the financial year 2017-18 alone. He said that growth in sales of transport vehicles, huge disbursement of Mudra loans and EPFO data show that enough opportunities for employment. Traders ignored a report stating that the Goods and Services (GST) collections for October (collected in November) dropped to Rs 97,637 crore from Rs 1 lakh crore collected in the previous month. Market participants also shrugged off a report that China has not accepted India’s proposal to carry out bilateral trade in local currencies which was aimed at bridging the ballooning trade deficit with the neighbouring country.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, after the presidents of China and the US reached a temporary truce in their trade war. At the G20 summit, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to halt new trade tariffs for 90 days to allow for talks. Back home, India’s core sector output grew at a slower pace of 4.8% in October 2018, as compared to 5% in October 2017, due to contraction in the production of crude oil, natural gas and fertilizer.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36381.19, up by 186.89 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 36311.54 and 36446.16. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.79%, while Small cap index was up by 0.54%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 3.00%, Realty up by 1.98%, Basic Materials up by 1.56%, Telecom up by 1.22% and Power was up by 1.12%, while Healthcare down by 0.70%, Energy down by 0.30% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.22% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 4.16%, Tata Steel up by 2.72%, Coal India up by 2.56%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.85% and Tata Motors was up by 1.72%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 7.45%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.93%, Reliance Industries down by 0.62%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.24% and Bajaj Auto was down by 0.16% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry in its latest report has showed that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection dropped to Rs 97,637 crore in November 2018 as compared to Rs 1 lakh crore collected previous month. Of the Rs 97,637 crore collected, central GST (CGST) collection was Rs 16,812 crore, state GST (SGST) was Rs 23,070 crore, integrated GST (IGST) was Rs 49,726 crore (including Rs 24,133 crore collected on imports) and cess was Rs 8,031 crore (including Rs 842 crore collected on imports). The total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for October up to November 30, 2018, was 69.6 lakh. Compensation released to states for August-September stood at Rs 11,922 crore.

The government has settled Rs 18,262 crore to CGST and Rs 15,704 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue earned by central government and the state governments after regular settlement in November 2018 was Rs 35,073 crore for CGST and Rs 38,774 crore for SGST. Besides, the GST collections stood at Rs 1.03 lakh crore in April, Rs 94,016 crore in May, Rs 95,610 crore in June, Rs 96,483 crore in July, Rs 93,960 crore in August, Rs 94,442 crore in September and Rs 1,00,710 crore in October.

Additionally, the government has set a target of over Rs 12 lakh crore for current financial year (FY19), which can be achieved if the average monthly mop up is around Rs 1 lakh crore, as compared with Rs 89,885 crore in last financial year (FY18). During April-November of FY19, the government has collected Rs 7.76 lakh crore revenue from GST.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10923.00, up by 46.25 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 10899.80 and 10941.20. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 5.21%, Vedanta up by 4.21%, Hindalco up by 3.71%, Tata Steel up by 2.95% and Coal India was up by 2.45%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 7.43%, HPCL down by 2.28%, UPL down by 1.94%, BPCL down by 1.05% and Indian Oil Corporation was down by 1.04% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green, Hang Seng increased 695.88 points or 2.56% to 27,202.63, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 257.14 points or 2.53% to 10,145.17, Nikkei 225 surged 242.50 points or 1.07% to 22,593.56, Jakarta Composite soared 80.81 points or 1.32% to 6,136.93, Shanghai Composite gained 75.26 points or 2.83% to 2,663.45 and Straits Times advanced 64.40 points or 2.02% to 3,182.01 and KOSPI was up by 34.90 points or 1.64% to 2,131.76.