Key indices hovered in positive zone in early afternoon trade. At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 128.69 points or 0.36% at 36,000.17. The Nifty 50 index was up 27.50 points or 0.25% at 10,819.15. IT stocks gained. Positive Asian stocks boosted sentiment.
The Sensex was currently trading a tad above the psychological 36,000 mark after moving above and below that level in intraday trade. Trading for the day began on a positive note as the key benchmark indices drifted higher in early trade on positive Asian stocks. Stocks trimmed gains in morning trade after an initial upmove. Stocks regained strength in mid-morning trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.37%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.68%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1333 shares rose and 942 shares fell. A total of 139 shares were unchanged.
IT stocks gained. TCS (up 1.35%), Infosys (up 1.06%), Wipro (up 0.75%), HCL Technologies (up 0.46%), Oracle Financial Services Software (up 1.39%), MindTree (up 1.02%), and Mphasis (up 0.46%) rose. Tech Mahindra (down 0.05%) and Hexaware Technologies (down 0.97%) fell.
Reliance Industries fell 0.05%. Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings (RIIHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL) has entered into agreement for acquisition of equity shares of Surajya Services (Easygov) for a cash consideration not exceeding Rs 18 crore. RIIHL will further invest an amount not exceeding Rs 50 crore. The investment upon completion will translate into 76% equity stake in Easygov on a fully diluted basis. The total investment is likely to be completed by March 2021. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 February 2019.
Easygov is a software service and data solutions company incorporated on 19 May 2015. Easygov is focused on citizen centric software solutions and services that help in improving convenience to people in accessing and digitally applying for Government to Citizen (G2C) schemes and services.
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RIIHL also entered into an agreement for acquisition of equity shares of SankhyaSutra (SSL) for a cash consideration not exceeding Rs 16.02 crore. RIIHL will further invest an amount of up to Rs 200 crore and is likely to be completed by December 2021. The investment will translate into about 83% of equity capital in SSL on a fully diluted basis. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 February 2019.
SSL is a High-Performance Computing (HPC) software simulation services company incorporated on 9 September 2015. SSL is focused on simulation services for manufacturing and Industrial companies like - automobile, aircraft manufacturing, oil and gas, and semiconductor manufacturing etc.
RIIHL also entered into a agreement for acquisition of equity shares of Reverie Language Technologies (Reverie' for a cash consideration not exceeding Rs 190 crore. RIIHL will further invest an amount not exceeding Rs 77 crore. The investment upon completion will translate into 83.30% equity capital in Reverie on a fully diluted basis. The total investment is likely to be completed by March 2021. Reverie is a language technologies development company, incorporated on 12th November 2009. Reverie is engaged in the business of developing end-to-end voice technology stack for delivering a complete multilingual user experience. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 February 2019.
Meanwhile, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council in its 33rd meeting held on 24 February 2019, recommended that GST shall be levied at effective GST rate of 5%, without input tax credit (ITC), on residential properties outside affordable segment. GST shall be levied at effective GST of 1%, without ITC, on affordable housing properties. The new rate shall become applicable from 1 April 2019, Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
The definition of affordable housing was also redefined by linking to cost as well as carpet area. Flats costing up to Rs 45 lakh and with carpet area of 60 square metres in metros (Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai-MMR and Kolkata) or 90 square metres in non-metro areas.
Prior to this, under-construction residential properties attracted effective GST rate of 12% after factoring one-third abatement for the value of land. The effective GST rate for affordable housing was 8%. Ready properties that have received occupancy certificate (OC) do not attract GST.
Overseas, stocks in Asia traded higher on Monday amid trade optimism after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a postponement of a closely-watched deadline on March 1. US stocks closed higher Friday, thanks to optimism over U.S.-China trade talks.
U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly announced Sunday evening that America is planning to delay a set of additional tariffs on Chinese goods that were due to kick in on March 1. Trump cited substantial progress in bilateral talks between the world's two largest economies, including intellectual property protection and technology transfer issues. As a result, the president said he would suspend the new levies, however he did not state a new deadline.
In Europe, British Prime Minister Theresa May reportedly announced Sunday that she is delaying a vote on her Brexit deal in Parliament, saying it should now take place by March 12, a little more than two weeks before the U.K. is due to leave the European Union. British lawmakers will consider various Brexit options this week as May continues to seek concessions from her EU counterparts. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29.
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