Markets trade higher in early deals amid firm global cues

Markets have made positive start on firm global cues on Thursday and are now trading with gains of around half percent on the back of buying by funds and retail investors. Meanwhile, broader indices on the BSE were also trading higher with gains in the range of 0.65-0.85%. Sentiments got boost as revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj has said that he expects GST collection to top the Rs 1.5-lakh-crore-mark from October.  Bajaj said ‘for the last couple of months, we’ve been trying very hard to reach that milestone of Rs 1.5 trillion (lakh crore). But we have been failing a bit sometimes by Rs 2,000 crore and sometimes by even Rs 6,000 crore.’ Some support also came in as India and France agreed to set up an Indo-Pacific trilateral framework to roll out development projects, decided to expand strategic cooperation and vowed to work closely to deal with pressing global challenges such as food crisis triggered by the Ukraine war.

On the global front, Asian markets were mostly trading in green following the positive cues from US markets overnight, supported by gains in energy stocks on spiking crude oil prices. The US markets ended higher on Wednesday as investors tried to find their footing after the biggest one-day drop in more than two years.

Back home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were trading in green, with only exceptions of TECK and IT counters. Stocks from Telecom, Bankex, Auto, Industrials and Utilities were the prominent gainers. Sugar stocks were in focus as India is reportedly poised to allow 5 million tonnes of sugar exports in the first tranche for the new marketing year beginning October.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60633.90, up by 286.93 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 60446.46 and 60676.12. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.69%, while Small cap index up by 0.84%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.22%, Bankex up by 0.89%, Auto up by 0.88%, Industrials up by 0.77% and Utilities up by 0.75%, while TECK down by 0.07% and IT down by 0.07% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.50%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.43%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.35%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.23% and Wipro up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.05%, Infosys down by 0.78%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.49%, Indusind Bank down by 0.45% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj has said he expects GST collection to top the Rs 1.5-lakh-crore-mark from October.  Bajaj said ‘for the last couple of months, we’ve been trying very hard to reach that milestone of Rs 1.5 trillion (lakh crore). But we have been failing a bit sometimes by Rs 2,000 crore and sometimes by even Rs 6,000 crore.’

He mentioned ‘The revenue that we will collect in October, the data of which will come on November 1, I am sure from that month onwards the CBIC on a regular basis shall deliver Rs 1.5 trillion revenue for the government.’

Revenue collection from goods and services tax (GST) has been trending at over Rs 1.4 lakh crore in the past six months consecutively but has not crossed the Rs 1.5 lakh crore-mark yet on a consistent basis. The August collection of Rs 1.43 lakh crore is up 28 per cent on-year but lower than Rs 1.49 lakh crore in July. Only once the collection crossed the Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark- a record Rs 1.67 lakh crore mopped in April 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18081.00, up by 77.25 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 18042.90 and 18096.15. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 1.89%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.80%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.17%, Adani Ports &Special up by 1.16% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.15%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.19%, Tata Steel down by 1.24%, Infosys down by 0.92%, Indusind Bank down by 0.81% and Cipla down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Nikkei 225 surged 71.48 points or 0.26% to 27,890.10, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 85.69 points or 0.58% to 14,744.00, Straits Times advanced 15.05 points or 0.46% to 3,273.07, Hang Seng increased 118.62 points or 0.63% to 18,965.72 and Jakarta Composite was up by 82.08 points or 1.13% to 7,360.16.

On the other side; KOSPI fell 3.96 points or 0.16% to 2,407.46 and Shanghai Composite was down by 32.66 points or 1.01% to 3,204.88.