Bourses trade flat in early afternoon session

Indian markets traded near neutral lines in early afternoon session as traders avoided to take risk ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s policy outcome on Wednesday. As for broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index traded in green, while Small cap index traded in red. Traders took note of report that Crisil Intelligence in its September report has said that high tariffs imposed by the United States (US) on Indian goods pose a major risk to the country's growth. It added that the tariffs will impact both Indian goods exports and investments. However, it noted that domestic consumption, driven by benign inflation and rate cuts, is expected to support growth. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following the positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, amid increased confidence the US Fed will continue lower interest rates in the coming months after the data showed US consumer price inflation rose in line with estimates in August.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80419.53, down by 6.93 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 80339.23 and 80851.38. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.04%, while Small cap index was down by 0.29%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.64%, Energy up by 1.06%, Realty up by 0.93%, PSU up by 0.84% and Metal was up by 0.59%, while Bankex down by 0.39%, Industrials down by 0.22%, Consumer Durables down by 0.20%, FMCG down by 0.19% and  IT was down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharat Electronics up by 1.79%, Eternal up by 1.68%, Titan Company up by 1.56%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.02% and NTPC up by 0.87%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.08%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.13%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.05%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.91% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.87% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has demanded restoration of input tax credit on room tariffs of up to Rs 7,500. The government has brought down the goods and services tax (GST) on such tariffs to 5 per cent from 12 per cent. However, before the GST cut, there was a provision for availing input tax credit (ITC), which has now been removed. 

FHRAI's newly elected President Surendra Kumar Jaiswal highlighted that 90 per cent of India's hotels operate with room tariffs below Rs 7,500, and are now subject to a 5 per cent GST without ITC. Although the recent revision in the GST rates is a continued effort to rationalise tax rates to benefit consumers, improve compliance, and support growth, he argued it has turned into an added cost for guests and created structural cost burdens on hotels, particularly in tier-II and tier-III cities.

He stressed the withdrawal of ITC has escalated unrecoverable costs on rentals, utilities, outsourced manpower, and capital expenditure, deterring investments and threatening the growth of domestic tourism. FHRAI called for reinstating ITC at the earliest and issued a clarificatory circular to remove compliance ambiguities. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24658.55, up by 3.85 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 24633.20 and 24791.30. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 2.10%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.79%, Eternal up by 1.68%, Titan Company up by 1.59% and Wipro up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.08%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.27%, Tata Consumer down by 1.13%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.94% and Adani Enterprises down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 499.8 points or 1.91% to 26,628.00, KOSPI increased 45.16 points or 1.32% to 3,431.21, Shanghai Composite strengthened 34.42 points or 0.9% to 3,862.53, Jakarta Composite gained 24.5 points or 0.3% to 8,123.83 and Straits Times was up by 8.85 points or 0.21% to 4,274.83. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 451.99 points or 1.01% to 44,903.00.