Bulls hold tight grip over Dalal Street

Bulls were holding their tight grip over the Dalal Street, with both Sensex and Nifty trading above a per cent higher, backed by positive cues from other Asian markets along with heavy buying at Realty and Auto counters. Traders got some support with a private report that India will likely grow at a moderate pace between 6 per cent and 6.5 per cent in FY2023-24 while the global economy continues to struggle. It further noted that  growth in the next year will likely pick up as investment kickstarts the virtuous circle of job creation, income, productivity, demand, and exports supported by favourable demographics in the medium term. Street took a note of another private report stating that India will likely witness a sub-five per cent inflation in the early part of 2023, with an average rate of Consumer Price Index at 5.2 per cent for the entire calendar year.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as the services sector in Japan continued to expand in April, and at a faster rate, with a services PMI score of 55.4. That's up from 55.0 in March and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Robust output growth reflected a sharp and accelerated rise in new business volumes during April. The upturn in new work was also the strongest seen in over 15 years of data collection.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61760.29, up by 706.00 points or 1.16% after trading in a range of 61166.09 and 61767.74. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.81%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.89%, Auto up by 1.57%, Bankex up by 1.52%, FMCG up by 0.75% and Metal up by 0.72%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 4.98%, Bajaj Finance up by 4.54%, Tata Motors up by 3.97%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.38% and Power Grid up by 2.12%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.49%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.37% and Nestle down by 0.06% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN) has deferred by 3 months the implementation of time limit for businesses with turnover of over Rs 100 crore to upload their old e-invoices. In April 2023, the GST Network had imposed a timeline for businesses with turnover of Rs 100 crore and above for uploading e-invoices on the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) within 7 days of the issue of such invoices beginning May 1.

Previously, there was no such restriction for businesses to upload the invoices on the IRP. As per GST law, businesses cannot avail input tax credit (ITC) if invoices are not uploaded on the IRP.

In an advisory to taxpayers on May 6, GST Network said it has been decided by the competent authority to defer the imposition of time limit of 7 days on reporting old e-invoices on the e-invoice IRP portals for taxpayers with aggregate turnover greater than or equal to Rs 100 crore by three months. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18267.95, up by 198.95 points or 1.10% after trading in a range of 18100.30 and 18270.75. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 5.05%, Bajaj Finance up by 4.66%, Tata Motors up by 4.19%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.55% and Hindalco up by 2.44%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.34%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.55%, Adani Enterprises down by 1.22%, Sun Pharma down by 0.47% and Cipla down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite gained 4.05 points or 0.06% to 6,791.68,  Shanghai Composite strengthened 57.23 points or 1.69% to 3,391.73, KOSPI increased 12.27 points or 0.49% to 2,513.21, Taiwan Weighted added 73.5 points or 0.47% to 15,699.57 and Hang Seng advanced 207.6 points or 1.02% to 20,256.91, while Straits Times fell 6.14 points or 0.19% to 3,260.49 and Nikkei 225 slipped 208.07 points or 0.72% to 28,949.88.