Nifty hovers above 8,550; Tata Motors up 4%

Nifty hovers above 8,550; Tata Motors up 4%

Markets have shrugged off the clearance of GST in the upper house and are trading in a narrow range with Sensex and Nifty swinging between negative and positive zone.

By 10:25 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 48 points at 27,746 and the Nifty50 gained 14 points to trade 8,559. Broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.5% each.

"Contrary to popular belief, the passage of the GST Constitutional Amendment marks only the beginning of a fairly tedious procedure that should ultimately result in the implementation of a unified GST in India at best by 2HFY18. Even as the adoption of a unified GST is one of the most remarkable tax reforms from a long-term perspective, in the short-term we highlight that this is likely to result in (1) a mild pick-up in inflation as hitherto untaxed goods and services are now brought under the tax net, (2) a meaningful loss of jobs in the informal sector as this sector will no longer be able to fly under the radar of the taxman and (3) consequently trigger pro-electorate measures in the form of higher revenue expenditure from FY18 onwards as the Modi-led BJP Government begins preparing for the 2019 General Elections," adds Ritika Mankar Mukherjee, Senior Economist, Ambit Capital.(more)

Markets extend losses; Sensex down 100 points

Markets have turned weak in the afternoon session as selling pressure intensified across the board. The weakness in European equities on account of lowering crude oil prices has also dented the sentiments.

At 2:35 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex shed 113 points at 24,711 and the Nifty50 lost 45 points at 7,509.

The RBI at its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy review on Tuesday kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.75%. The cash reserve ratio (CRR), or the portion of a bank’s money maintained with the central bank in cash, was also unchanged at 4%. The RBI, however, indicated that rates would continue to soften, prompted by benign inflation and weak economic and industrial growth.