Bourses trade in green in early afternoon session

Indian equity markets held their gains in early afternoon session despite ongoing concerns over China’s economic slowdown and geopolitical uncertainties. Investors were hoping that India’s retail inflation likely to fall in February. Traders took note of report that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said India is looking for a ‘good’ trade agreement with the US. She also said that amid a growing global tariff war, India will have to move ‘smartly’ to guard against possible dumping of goods from countries that are facing higher US tariffs. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as a measure of the public assessment of the current situation of the Japanese economy weakened more-than-expected in February to the lowest level in just over two-and-a-half years. The current conditions index of the Economy Watchers' Survey dropped to 45.6 in February from 48.6 in January. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74470.20, up by 137.62 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 74156.00 and 74741.25. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.54%, while Small cap index was down by 1.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.24%, FMCG up by 0.62%, TECK up by 0.51%, Power up by 0.48% and Metal was up by 0.29%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.41%, Industrials down by 1.30%, Oil & Gas down by 1.09%, Capital Goods down by 1.06% and Energy was down by 0.91% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.70%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.32%, Infosys up by 1.59%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.32% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.39%, Titan Company down by 1.73%, Zomato down by 1.57%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.35% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.78% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has pitched for delinking the GST on food & beverage services from accommodation charges in hotels. Citing multiple representations made to the authorities, it emphasized that the current practice of linking F&B taxation to hotel room tariffs is both unfair and operationally challenging for the hospitality industry.

FHRAI said under the prevailing GST framework, restaurants within hotels charging Rs 7,500 or more per room per day are subject to 18 per cent GST on F&B services with input tax credit (ITC) benefits, while those in hotels with tariffs below this threshold must levy 5 per cent GST without ITC. It has proposed a flexible system allowing all hotel restaurants to independently opt for either 18 per cent GST with ITC or 5 per cent without ITC, irrespective of the room rates.

Pradeep Shetty, Vice President, FHRAI said ‘with regard to our request of delinking this particular GST which is the threshold of Rs 7,500 which is there today, as a result of which the moment a hotel sells a room above Rs 7500, the GST rate for the restaurant within the same hotel moves from 5 per cent to 18 per cent. So this is the delinking we have requested for’. FHRAI has also suggested that this linkage should be removed or alternatively the benchmark or the threshold of Rs 7,500 should be moved to 12,500 having due consideration to the inflation since 2017 when for the first time this benchmark of Rs 7,500 was set.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22576.00, up by 23.50 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 22498.65 and 22676.75. There were 24 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged. 

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 2.83%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.34%, Infosys up by 1.69%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.37% and JSW Steel up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.36%, Trent down by 2.87%, ONGC down by 1.82%, Titan Company down by 1.65% and Eicher Motors down by 1.56% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 359.19 points or 1.5% to 23,872.11, Taiwan Weighted lost 116.92 points or 0.52% to 22,459.15, Jakarta Composite plunged 40.18 points or 0.61% to 6,595.82, Straits Times fell 5.09 points or 0.13% to 3,909.39 and Shanghai Composite was down by 5.08 points or 0.15% to 3,367.47. On the flip side, KOSPI increased 6.91 points or 0.27% to 2,570.39 and Nikkei 225 was up by 141.1 points or 0.38% to 37,028.27.