Market Watch

Sensex closes 48 points up; GST bill makes progress; Jindal Steel surges 10%

27 July 2016 - 04:02 PM

The NSE Nifty rose to its highest since April last year while the benchmark BSE Sensex reached near one-year high as the central government and states made some headway on the Goods and Services Tax bill.
 
State finance ministers backed the tax bill after meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday, rallying hopes of the bill getting cleared by the Rajya Sabha (upper house of parliament) in the current monsoon session.‎
 
The sentiment was also boosted by hopes of stimulus by the Bank of Japan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that the planned stimulus package expected next week would be over 28 trillion yen ($265 billion).‎
 
Investors also waited for the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, though it is widely expected that the rates would be kept unchanged.
 
Some analysts said markets could face resistance after recent strong gains since hitting near two-year lows on Feb. 29. The Nifty is up 23 percent since then.
 
The broader Nifty was 0.2 percent higher, while the Sensex was trading 0.1 percent higher as of 0728 GMT.
 
Bank and auto stocks saw the biggest gains on the NSE. ICICI Bank and Maruti Suzuki India were up 3.4 percent and 2.3 percent respectively.
 
Zee Entertainment Enterprises and United Spirits gained as much as 4.1 percent and 2.3 percent respectively after delivering highly profitable June quarter results.‎
 
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories continued its slide and saw the biggest percentage fall on the NSE on Wednesday after its June-quarter profit plunged around 76 percent.```