Trade remains sluggish; heavyweights suffer profit booking

The domestic markets are not looking going anywhere and are trading flat in the mid morning session despite getting good global lead. The heavyweights that surged in previous sessions pull back are witnessing profit booking. Also the lowering of monsoon estimates seems to have gripped the minds of investors while presences of no other supportive cues are restricting the markets to move higher. It has been reported that this year's monsoon rains would be 95 percent of the long-term average overall, down from its April forecast of 98 percent and just short of the 96-104 percent range which counts as normal monsoon. Though some support is coming from the capital goods and healthcare sectors but rate sensitive consumer durables and realty sector stocks are neutralizing the gains. The oil & gas sector is once again under pressure due to decline in heavyweights like RIL and ONGC.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,572.43, up by 12.13 points or 0.07%. The index has touched a high and low of 17,678.86 and 17,525.36 respectively. Breadth was evenly distributed with 15 stocks advancing against 15 declines on the index.

The broader indices have lost their traction and are currently underperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 0.13% and 0.07% respectively. The market breadth was weak with 43.43% stocks advancing against 51.74% declines.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were CG up by 0.49%, HC up by 0.35%, FMCG up by 0.28%, Auto up by 0.275 and Bankex up by 0.25%, while the losers were CD down by 0.91%, Realty down by 0.64%, Oil & gas down by 0.36%, PSU down by 0.18% and TECk was down by 0.05%.

The top gainer on the Sensex were M&M up by 1.79%, Cipla up by 1.41%, Sterlite Inds up by 0.94%, Tata Power up by 0.91% and ICICI Bank was up by 0.75%.

On the flip side, jindal Steel down by 1.68%, TCS down by 1.42%, JP Associates down by 1.32%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.99% and RIL down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the preface of indirect tax reforms through the common Goods and Services Tax (GST), from the next fiscal appears uncertain with fresh opposition driving in from BJP-ruled states who claim that it would reduce their status to that of municipalities and corporations. The Madhya Pradesh's (MP) Finance Minister Raghavji said, 'The kind of draft that they (Central government) have presented... I do not think it could be passed. Which state will agree to become a municipality or corporation... To hand over all the powers to the Centre and then beg before it for money is against the spirit of the Sarkaria Commission report.'

Raghavji said states are not inclined to accept the draft Bill, which has been circulated by the Centre, for the introduction of the GST. The Bill needs approval of two-thirds of Parliament and half of India's 28 states to become the law. Hence, BJP support is crucial at the states as well as the central level. The Constitution Amendment Bill introduced by the Centre is reactionary. 'It is absolutely useless and against the interest of the states. It has provisions which will curtail the autonomy of states. The Centre is interfering in the rights of the states,' he added.

The Goods and Services tax bill was introduced in the parliament in the last budget session, it was the fourth draft made by the central government, and the first three drafts were rejected by the states citing autonomy issues. The MP's finance minister said, there have been no changes in the latest draft as against the previous one. 'In fact, the previous draft was in some aspects much better. This one is even worse,' he added.

BJP-ruled states are opposing the proposal of central government on inclusion of sales tax in GST. 'Sales tax is an exclusive state subject. Now the Centre wants to interfere with that. This is unacceptable to us,' Raghavji said, adding that one of the solutions could be having separate GST regimes for the states and the Centre.

The implementation of GST has not made any progress because of clash between central and state governments on the structure of GST. The GST would include most of indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax at the central level and VAT on the state front, besides local levies. The draft is also against the spirit of federalism enshrined in the constitution, Raghavji said, adding, 'This disturbs the basic structure of the Constitution.'

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,284.20, up by 8.35 points or 0.16%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,310.50 and 5,269.70 respectively. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty are M&M up by 1.90%, Ambuja Cements up by 1.78%, Sun Pharma up by 1.68%, Cipla up by 1.55% and Grasim was up by 1.25%.

On the other hand, TCS down by 1.70%, Jindal Steel down by 1.47%, HCL Tech down by 1.04%, SAIl down by 0.99% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.89% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets barring China were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite was down by 0.35%.On the other hand, Hang Seng was up 0.33%, Jakarta Composite was up 0.68%, KLSE Composite was up by 0.12%, Nikkei 225 surged by 1.87%, Straits Times was up 0.19%, Seoul Composite gained 1.20% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.48%.

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