Key benchmark indices continued to witness a divergent trend in early afternoon trade with the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, trading with small losses and the 50-unit Nifty 50 index trading with minuscule gains. At 12:17 IST, the Sensex was off 31.65 points or 0.12% at 25,606.46. The Nifty was up 3.65 points or 0.05% at 7,785.55.
The Sensex rose 147.42 points or 0.57% at the day's high of 25,785.53 at the onset of the trading session. The barometer index hit its lowest level in almost three weeks when it fell 53.13 points or 0.2% at the day's low of 25,584.98 in mid-morning trade. The Nifty rose 43.50 points or 0.55% at the day's high of 7,825.40 at the onset of the trading session. The index fell 5.90 points or 0.07% at the day's low of 7,776 in mid-morning trade.
The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1,482 shares rose and 965 shares declined. A total of 148 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.2%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.43%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
In overseas stock markets, Asian share markets edged higher after Wall Street welcomed an upbeat US jobs report that suggested the world's biggest economy was well placed to handle an expected first increase in interest rates in almost a decade. Strong job data and comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi that the bank can step up monetary stimulus if needed triggered a rally in US stocks on Friday, 4 December 2015.
Closer home, a committee headed by Chief Economic Adviser Dr. Arvind Subramanian on Possible Tax rates under goods and services tax (GST) has suggested revenue neutral rate in range between 15% and 15.5% (Centre and states combined) with a preference for the lower end of that range. The committee has recommended a two-rate structure for GST. In order to ensure that the standard rate is kept close to the revenue neutral rate (RNR), the maximum possible tax base should be taxed at the standard rate, the committee has suggested in its report submitted to the government. The committee has recommended that lower rates should be kept around 12% (Centre plus states) with standard rates varying between 17% and 18%.
FMCG stocks gained. Godrej Consumer Products (up 1.9%), Marico (up 1.09%), Tata Global Beverages (up 1.05%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care (up 0.99%), Hindustan Unilever (up 0.9%), Nestle India (up 0.32%), Colgate Palmolive (India) (up 0.48%), Bajaj Corp (up 0.67%), GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare (up 0.17%) and Dabur India (up 0.11%) edged higher. Britannia Industries (down 1.38%), Jyothy Laboratories (down 1.25%) and Emami (down 0.46%) edged lower.
Auto stocks declined. Eicher Motors (down 0.73%), TVS Motor Company (down 0.86%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.29%) and Tata Motors (down 0.58%) edged lower. Hero MotoCorp (up 0.62%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.61%) and Ashok Leyland (up 0.5%) edged higher.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) fell 0.24% after the company reported 11.8% fall in its production to 1.03 lakh units in November 2015 over November 2014. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 4 December 2015.
Artson Engineering fell 0.92% at Rs 54. The stock was highly volatile. The stock hit a high of Rs 56.80 and a low of Rs 51.20 so far during the day. The company announced that it has received a purchase order worth about Rs 10.77 crore for fabrication and supply of steel structures for a steel plant. The company announced the new order win after market hours on Friday, 4 December 2015.
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