Key benchmark indices pared gains in mid-morning trade. At 11:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 45.85 points or 0.14% at 31,860.07. The Nifty 50 index was up 5.35 points or 0.05% at 9,985.05.
The Sensex hit its highest intraday level in two weeks in morning trade. The Nifty hit its highest intraday level in more than two weeks in morning trade. The Nifty pared gains after crossing the psychologically important 10,000 mark in morning trade.
The Sensex rose 121.41 points, or 0.38% at the day's high of 31,935.63 in morning trade, its highest level since 25 September 2017. The index fell 32.47 points, or 0.10% at the day's low of 31,781.75 in early trade. The Nifty rose 36.05 points, or 0.36% at the day's high of 10,015.75 in morning trade, its highest level since 22 September 2017. The index fell 20.25 points, or 0.20% at the day's low of 9,959.45 in early trade.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.05%, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.45%, outperforming the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, 1,484 shares rose and 946 shares fell. A total of 92 shares were unchanged.
Most IT shares rose. Persistent Systems (up 1.07%), Tech Mahindra (up 1.02%), MphasiS (up 0.65%), TCS (up 0.64%), Infosys (up 0.49%), Hexaware Technologies (up 0.30%) and MindTree (up 0.18%), edged higher. Wipro (down 0.24%), HCL Technologies (down 0.35%) and Oracle Financial Services Software (down 1.08%), edged lower.
Most pharmaceutical shares rose. IPCA Laboratories (up 3.22%), Piramal Enterprises (up 2.43%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 2.19%), Divi's Laboratories (up 1.65%), Cipla (up 1.21%), Alkem Laboratories (up 0.41%), Strides Shasun (up 0.41%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.30%) and Wockhardt (up 0.16%), edged higher. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 0.08%), Lupin (down 0.12%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 0.28%) and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.4%), edged lower.
Cadila Healthcare rose 0.56% to Rs 503.35 after the company said that it has received the final approval from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) to market Amitriptyline Hydrochloride Tablets USP in strengths of 10 mg, 25 mg, 50 mg, 75 mg, 100 mg and 150 mg. The announcement was made on Saturday, 7 October 2017. The drug is used to treat depression and will be manufactured at the group's formulation manufacturing facility at Special Economic Zone, Ahmedabad.
Separately, the company said after market hours on Friday, 6 October 2017, that it has received final approval from the USFDA to market Dutasteride Capsules, 0.5 mg. It will be manufactured at the group's formulations manufacturing facility at Moraiya, Ahmedabad. The drug is indicated for the treatment of symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in men with an enlarged prostate to improve symptoms, reduce the risk of acute urinary retention (AUR) and reduce the risk of the need for BPH related surgery.
On the macro front, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council under Chairmanship of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in its 22nd Meeting held at Delhi on Friday, 6 October 2017, decided to allow taxpayers with Rs 1.5 crore to file quarterly returns and at the same time increased the threshold for composition scheme to Rs 1 crore from the present Rs 75 lakh.
The composition scheme shall be made available to taxpayers having annual aggregate turnover of up to Rs 1 crore as compared to the current turnover threshold of Rs 75 lakh. This threshold of turnover for special category States, except Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand, shall be increased to Rs 75 lakh from Rs 50 lakh. The turnover threshold for Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand shall be Rs 1 crore. The facility of availing composition under the increased threshold shall be available to both migrated and new taxpayers up to 31 March 2018. The option once exercised shall become operational from the first day of the month immediately succeeding the month in which the option to avail the composition scheme is exercised. New entrants to this scheme shall have to file the return in FORM GSTR-4 only for that portion of the quarter from when the scheme becomes operational and shall file returns as a normal taxpayer for the preceding tax period. The increase in the turnover threshold will make it possible for greater number of taxpayers to avail the benefit of easier compliance under the composition scheme and is expected to greatly benefit the MSME sector.
Persons who are otherwise eligible for composition scheme but are providing any exempt service (such as extending deposits to banks for which interest is being received) were being considered ineligible for the said scheme. It has been decided that such persons who are otherwise eligible for availing the composition scheme and are providing any exempt service, shall be eligible for the composition scheme. A Group of Ministers (GoM) have been constituted to examine measures to make the composition scheme more attractive.
Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed. Stock markets in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were shut for public holiday. China's Shanghai Composite was up 1.08%. Growth in activity in China's service sector slowed sharply in September, a private gauge showed Monday. The Caixin China services purchasing managers' index slipped to 50.6 in September 2017 from 52.7 in August 2017, marking a 21-month low, Caixin Media Co. and research firm Markit said. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion in activity from the previous month, while a result below that points to a contraction.
In US, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average logged minor losses on Friday, 6 October 2017, though the Nasdaq eked out a closing record as investors mostly shrugged off a September jobs report that showed the first monthly drop in payrolls in seven years.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.72 points, or 0.01%, to 22,773.67. The S&P 500 fell 2.74 points, or 0.11%, to finish at 2,549.33. The Nasdaq Composite Index ended slightly higher, eking out a record close. The tech-heavy index ended up 4.82 points, or 0.07%, to 6,590.18.
Nonfarm payrolls shrank by 33,000 in September, the first monthly decline since 2010. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2% from 4.4% in August while wages increased by 0.5% to an average of $26.55 an hour, per Labor Department data.
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