Bourses widen gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets widened their gains in late afternoon session on account of buying in front line counters. Auto, Consumer Discretionary and FMCG counters were on the priority list of the buyers. Traders took support after government has notified certain procedural changes in the GST rules, including those related to threshold, for filing annual returns for the 2021-22 fiscal, a move that will help ease the compliance burden on small players. With the amendments notified by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), businesses have also been allowed to make tax payments on the GSTN portal by using IMPS and UPI payment modes. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as recession worries took center stage and investors awaited an update from the FOMC meeting minutes due later in the day. European markets were trading higher as an end to strike by Norwegian oil and gas workers eased worries of energy supply crunch.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 53,650.75, up by 516.4 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 53143.28 and 53797.00. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.12%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.77%, FMCG up by 1.75%, Consumer Durables up by 1.73% and Realty was up by 1.49%, while Metal down by 1.64%, Energy down by 0.77%, PSU down by 0.39%, Oil & Gas down by 0.36% and Utilities was down by 0.31% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 4.12%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.83%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.92%, Asian Paints up by 2.73% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.51%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.13%, Tata Steel down by 1.72%, Power Grid down by 1.54%, Reliance Industries down by 1.45% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a few days after the GST Council meeting, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj has said that there is scope for further pruning of the GST exemption list. He is also hoping that the rough edges in the indirect tax regime will be ironed out in the next 2-3 years.

Tarun Bajaj further underlined multiple factors like increased economic activity post-Covid and better compliance which were responsible for the rise in GST collection. He noted that in the 47th GST Council meeting a lot of exemptions have been taken away but exemptions still remain. Work needs to be done on that.

On the services side, he said ‘we still have a large number of exemptions. The CBIC, GST Council, in collaboration with the trade and industry, will continue to work on that if we can prune this list of exemptions.' Bajaj also added that there would be some categories, like healthcare, on which exemptions would have to be continued.

Besides, Revenue Secretary said that there was good buoyancy in GST revenue last fiscal and the GST Council, comprising finance ministers from the Centre and states, is cautious not to burden the common man with increased rates.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15,938.25, up by 127.40 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 15800.90 and 16002.20. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 4.02%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.89%, Britannia up by 3.53%, Eicher Motors up by 3.11% and Hindustan Unilever up by 3.06%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 5.34%, Hindalco down by 3.10%, NTPC down by 2.24%, Power Grid down by 1.70% and Tata Steel down by 1.62% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Taiwan Weighted dropped 363.69 points or 2.53% to 13,985.51, Nikkei 225 slipped 315.82 points or 1.2% to 26,107.65, Hang Seng decreased 266.41 points or 1.22% to 21,586.66, Jakarta Composite lost 56.86 points or 0.85% to 6,646.41, KOSPI fell 49.77 points or 2.13% to 2,292.01 and Shanghai Composite was down by 48.68 points or 1.43% to 3,355.35. On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 0.11 points or 0% to 3,104.22.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 115.70 points or 1.65% to 7,141.17, France’s CAC increased 85.65 points or 1.48% to 5,880.61 and Germany’s DAX was up by 167.48 points or 1.35% to 12,568.68.