Equity markets close with gains ahead of GST launch (Roundup)

Buoyed by positive European markets and healthy buying in consumer durables, FMCG and healthcare stocks, the Indian equity markets on Friday pared all morning losses to close in the green just ahead of the launch of the country's biggest indirect tax reform -- Goods and Services Tax (GST) -- at midnight.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) reclaimed the 9,500-mark to close higher by 16.80 points or 0.18 per cent at 9,520.90 points.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 30,824.97 points, closed at 30,921.61 points -- up 64.09 points, or 0.21 per cent, from its previous close at 30,857.52 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 30,965.45 points and a low of 30,680.66 during intra-day trade.

The BSE market breadth was bullish -- 1,354 advances and 1,210 declines.

The broader market indices outperformed the Sensex, with the S&P BSE mid-cap index up by 0.63 per cent and the small-cap index by 0.66 per cent.

"Markets ended with small gains in the last trading session of the week and month. The Nifty opened lower on weak global cues and then hovered within a small range in negative terrain till mid-afternoon trade, later rising mildly to register small gains towards the closing tracking a recovery in European equities," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

"The July Series has begun on a positive note even as investors remain cautious ahead of rollout of GST. Major Asian markets have ended on a negative note, while European indices like FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX traded higher."

On the currency front, the rupee strengthened by 5 paise to 64.58 to US dollar from its previous close at 64.63.

In investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 160.48 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased scrips worth Rs 1,195.71 crore.

Commenting on the movement of the NSE Nifty, Vijay Singhania, Founder, Trade Smart Online, said: "The 51-stock index fell 1.04 per cent during the month of June, the biggest monthly decline in seven months. The reason for the sell-off is clear.

"With valuation over-stretched, market is now facing selling pressure on lack of new growth triggers. We believe that GST could be one of the hooks that the market will justify for correction to set in," he added.

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE consumer durables index surged by 324.03 points, the FMCG index by 228.50 points and the healthcare index by 205.84 points.

On the other hand, the S&P BSE automobile index fell by 75.15 points, the energy index by 14.95 points and the realty index by 10.38 points.

"The street was cautious ahead of GST implementation but over 50 stocks hit a 52-week high. With the first half of 2017 over, around 100 stocks more than doubled wealth rising up to 700 per cent," said Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls.

"Top gainers in the NSE were Bank of Baroda, ITC, Sun Pharma, Cipla and Auro Pharma while Tata Motor (DVR), TechM, Tata Power, HDFC and Indiabulls Housing Finance were top losers. All eyes are on the GST roll out in Parliament tonight."

Major Sensex gainers on Friday were: ITC, up 4 per cent at Rs 323.85; Sun Pharma, up 2.97 per cent at Rs 554.50; Tata Steel, up 1.80 per cent at Rs 544.35; Cipla, up 1.76 per cent at Rs 554.35; and Dr. Reddy's Lab, up 1.59 per cent at Rs 2,688.50.

Major Sensex losers were: Tata Motors (DVR), down 2.10 per cent at Rs 263.30; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.25 per cent at Rs 3,672.65; ICICI Bank, down 1.23 per cent at Rs 290.10; HDFC, down 0.96 at Rs 1,616.35; and Reliance Industries, down 0.91 per cent at Rs 1,380.25.

--IANS

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