Indian bourses continue to trade in positive territory

Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade in green in afternoon session, on the back of buying by funds and retail investors despite largely weak Asian cues. Sentiments remained positive with report that giving relief to composition scheme taxpayers under the GST, the finance ministry has allowed such businesses to file self-assessed tax return on quarterly basis in a simplified form. In yet another simplification, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has added flexibility into the way a company can utilise the available input tax credit. Some solace also came in with the Finance Ministry introducing several changes in the electronic way or e-way bill system, ranging from auto calculation of distance based on PIN codes for generation of e-way bill to barring businesses from generating multiple e-way bills based on one invoice, as it seeks to cracks down evasion in the goods and services tax (GST) framework. However, gains remained capped as investors’ maintained cautious approach ahead of Futures and Options (F&O) derivative expiry for April series due today.  On the sectoral front, textile sector remained in focus with Textile Secretary Raghavendra Singh’s statement that there is great potential for the technical textiles sector but the industry was yet to tap it. He added that another major need was skilling the people in the sector.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, with weak economic data around the world offsetting a forecast-beating earnings season. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39197.74, up by 143.06 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 39009.72 and 39262.22. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.25%, while Small cap index was up by 0.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 1.57%, Energy up by 1.06%, Realty up by 0.92%, Utilities up by 0.85% and Power was up by 0.82%, while Telecom down by 1.10%, Metal down by 0.67%, TECK down by 0.38%, Auto down by 0.32% and IT was down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 4.20%, Reliance Industries up by 1.42%, Power Grid up by 1.17%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.12% and NTPC was up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 1.66%, Tata Steel down by 1.30%, ONGC down by 0.92%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.75% and Infosys was  down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has introduced several changes in the electronic way or e-way bill system, ranging from auto calculation of distance based on PIN codes for generation of e-way bill to barring businesses from generating multiple e-way bills based on one invoice, as it seeks to cracks down evasion in the goods and services tax (GST) framework. Touted as an anti-evasion tool, the e-way bill was rolled out on April 1, 2018, which is used by businesses to transport goods worth over Rs 50,000 both within and outside a state. The same for intra or within the state movement was rolled out in a phased manner from April 15.

With instances of malpractices in e-way bill generation getting detected, the revenue department has decided to rework the system for generation of e-way bill by transporters and business. The new enhanced system will be enabled to auto calculate the distance for movement of goods based on the postal PIN codes of source and destination locations. The user would be allowed to enter the actual distance as per the movement of goods, which will be limited to 10 percent more than the auto calculated distance displayed, according to the e-way bill portal.

Besides, the government has decided not to permit generation of multiple e-way bills based on one invoice. This means, if the e-way bill is generated once with a particular invoice number, then none of the parties -- consignor, consignee or transporter -- can generate another e-way bill with the same invoice number. The enhanced feature would permit extension of validity of the e-way bill when the goods are in transit/movement. Transporters of goods worth over Rs 50,000 would be required to present e-way bill during transit to a GST inspector, if asked. Failure to produce an e-way bill can attract a penalty of Rs 10,000 or amount of tax sought to be evaded, whichever is higher.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11780.85, up by 54.70 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 11715.95 and 11796.75. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 6.31%, Ultratech Cement up by 6.12%, Yes Bank up by 4.37%, BPCL up by 2.45% and UPL was up by 2.18%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 4.99%, Vedanta down by 1.66%, Tata Steel down by 1.19%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 0.95% and ONGC was down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 157.35 points or 0.53% to 29,648.48. Jakarta Composite dropped 70.36 points or 1.09% to 6,377.53, Shanghai Composite declined 62.88 points or 1.96% to 3,138.73, KOSPI fell 10.53 points or 0.48% to 2,190.50 and Straits Times was down by 4.22 points or 0.13% to 3,358.21.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 12.22 points or 0.11% to 11,039.86 and Nikkei 225 was up by 107.58 points or 0.48% to 22,307.58.