Sensex & Nifty Trade Near All-Time Highs; IT Stocks Lead

After opening the trading day on a positive note, Indian share markets continue to trade firm in the morning session. Gains are largely seen in information technology stocks and automobile stocks. Meanwhile, consumer durables sector and FMCG sector trading in the red.

The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 132 points and the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 47 points. The BSE Mid Capindex is trading flat while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up 0.4%. The rupee is trading at 64.54 to the US$.

As per an article in the Livemint, June quarter earnings growth of Indian companies is likely to slow because of uncertainty surrounding the implementation of goods and services tax (GST) and the impact of a stronger home currency on exporters.

The Indian rupee has strengthened 5.16% against the dollar since January and may hurt the exports realization of Indian companies. Implementation of GST has also caused major disruption in many sectors.

As the 1 July implementation of GST approached, there were reports of liquidation of inventory by dealers and supply-chain disruptions in various sectors-developments that may hurt earnings and revenue growth of companies.

GST, one of the biggest tax reforms since independence, subsumes more than a dozen state and central levies into one tax, economically unifying 29 states for the first time.

As per the reports, the growth will be limited to consumption-based sectors namely automobiles and auto ancillaries, retail, FMCG and aviation.

Uncertainity among sellers and distributors due to Goods and Services taxes (GST) rollout in Q2 FY18 is expected to cap revenue growth.

The telecom sector is expected to regain its momentum slowly due to revenues slipping by about 10-15% owing to tariff war following the entry of Reliance Jio.

The metal sector is also expected to get back on track slowly as metal prices dipped in the month of June