Nifty hovers around 9,200 after hitting fresh record high; RIL top gainer

The benchmark Nifty50 on Monday hit its fresh record high after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley pegged India's GDP growth at 7.7% in 2018, and sounded hopeful that the goods and services tax (GST) will get implemented by 1 July. 

The index gained as much as 47 points to 9220, surpassing its previous record high of 9,118 hit on March 17. 

At 10:58 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 29,763, up 143 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,200, up 27 points. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices added 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively to touch their fresh lifetime highs.

"Push into 9,200/39 region is expected, but may not immediately call for directional upsides. A turn lower from this region is favoured, but they are less expected to evolve into major falls. In all, choppiness is the favoured view, but extended period of consolidation augurs well for the next leg up, aiming 9,350-9,500. For this construct, downside risks start on break of 9,070," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Buzzing Stocks

Reliance Industries extended gains to hit its fresh 52-week high of Rs 1,380 on the BSE after the company's telecom venture Reliance Jio extended prime membership for its users by 15 days. The stock was the leading Sensex and Nifty mover.

SpiceJet and Jet Airways gained 2% each after price of jet fuel or Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) was cut by Rs 2,811.38 per kilolitre, or 5.1% to Rs 51,428 per kl with effect from April 1. 

Among losers, Unitech tanked 20% to Rs 4.46 after the company's promoters Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra were sent to police custody late on Friday by a Delhi court in an alleged fraud case related to a Gurugram-based real estate project. They will be produced in a Delhi court today.

Indoco Remedies tanked 16% to Rs 208 also its 52-week low on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after the company said it has received a warning letter from the US health regulator for its Goa plant.

Jaitley pegs growth at 7.7% in 2018

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the economy is expected to grow at 7.2% in 2017 and at the rate of 7.7% in 2018. He added that emerging market economies (EMEs) face newer challenges in the form of inward looking policies of protectionism of some economies, global financial condition, policies of the United States and increased geopolitical tension.

Rajya Sabha to discuss GST bills today

The goods and services tax (GST) Council on Friday cleared rules on the five aspects of the new indirect tax regime and tentatively approved four sets of norms. 

The five sets of rules the Council cleared are on registration, returns, payment, refunds and invoices. They were approved earlier, too, but were changed in bits and pieces to bring them in sync with the four Bills cleared by the Lok Sabha. The latter will be discussed and passed in the Rajya Sabha today. 

The Council’s next meeting on May 18 and 19 in Srinagar will take up the four sets of norms and item-wise rates. This will leave six weeks for businesses to prepare for these changes before the planned roll-out on July 1.  

Global markets

Asian shares started the week modestly higher after a bumper quarter as investors look to the shape of US trade and economic policies and how they could affect global growth.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3%, while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.4% after hitting a seven-week low on Friday. China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.4%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was trading 0.3% higher. 

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to end at 20,663.22 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.23% to 2,362.72. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.04% to 5,911.74.