Indices trade with small gains; hotel stocks rise

Key indices were trading with small gains in the mid-morning trade. The Nifty struggled to regain 10,850 level. At 11:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 84.24 points or 0.23% at 36,565.33. The Nifty 50 index was up 18.45 points or 0.17% at 10,836.05.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.4%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.35%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1095 shares rose and 884 shares fell. A total of 126 shares were unchanged.

Hospitality stocks were in demand. Taj Gvk Hotels & Resorts (up 8.71%), Hotel Leela Venture (up 4.63%), Indian Hotels Company (up 1.65%), EIH (up 0.9%) and Lemon Tree Hotel (up 0.18%) jumped.

State Tourism Ministers who met in the Kerala on Monday reportedly demanded the reduction, simplification and rationalisation of various taxes and levies, including the Goods and Services Tax (GST), in the tourism and travel industry to attract tourists and face global competition.

In the case of hotels, states are open to a GST cut on hotel tariffs of Rs 7,500 and more to 18% from 28% or to raise the threshold for the higher tax bracket, media reports suggested.

Reliance Industries gained 0.35% to Rs 1201.45 after Reliance Services and Holdings (controlled by Petroleum Trust) acquired 17.18 crore equity shares or 2.71% stake in the company.

Metal stocks advanced. NMDC (up 2.85%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 2.67%), Tata Steel (up 2.57%), Hindustan Zinc (up 2.18%), Vedanta (up 1.27%), Steel Authority of India (up 0.75%) and Hindalco Industries (up 0.53%) gained. The S&P BSE Metal index was up 0.94% at 8,911.65.

IndiaMART InterMESH was up 3.1% to Rs 1745.05. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs 1748.7 which is also a record high for the counter. The stock entered stock exchanges on 4 July 2019 and was listed at Rs 1180, a premium of 21.27% to the initial public offer (IPO) price of Rs 973.

Overseas, most Asian markets are trading higher as investors await US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. US stocks ended higher on Tuesday as the impact of weekend attacks on Saudi Arabia's biggest oil refinery faded.

Investors are looking forward to a meeting of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate setting committee concluding Wednesday, after which Chairman Jerome Powell will announce the central bank's latest policy decision. Expectations are that the Fed will cut interest rates a second time this year.

On the data front, U.S. industrial production rose 0.6% in August, the Fed said Tuesday. Capacity utilization increased by 0.4 percentage point to 77.9%. Separately, the National Association of Home Builders' monthly confidence index increased one point to 68 in September, matching the highest reading in a year, the trade group said Tuesday.

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