Sensex, Nifty continue to struggle; rupee weakens to 64/USD

Moneycontrol Bureau

1:30 pm GST outlook: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) cleared a key hurdle in the Parliament Wednesday when the Lok Sabha passed the constitutional amendment bill to enable single nationwide sales tax. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Kevin DSA, President – Finance, Bajaj Auto the entire industry has been looking forward to GST and the passage of this constitutional amendment bill in the Parliament is a very good beginning. According to him, a 24 percent rate for GST would be good for the government, for the country and for the automobile industry. And as GST sets in and one starts getting the entire benefit of this reform, the rate may gradually flow down to 20 percent, he added.

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The market continues to be under pressure as bank, pharma and oil stocks fall sharply. The Sensex is down 81.22 points at 26636.15 and the Nifty is down 29.90 points at 8067.10. About 792 shares have advanced, 1621 shares declined, and 135 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Hindalco, ICICI Bank and Tata Power are major losers in the Sensex. Among the gainers are Bajaj Auto, Bharti, Coal India and Hero MotoCorp.

The Indian currency has weakened to 64 per dollar. The rupee fell to its lowest in 20 months on Thursday, weighed down by concerns over the government's taxation policies that threaten to reduce the allure of local assets for foreign institutions, while a global debt sell-off also hurt.

Traders said the uptick in non-deliverable forwards traded in Singapore was hitting sentiment for the local unit and prompting custodian banks to sell the rupee.

Most emerging Asian currencies lost ground as a global bond rout lifted government bond yields across the region. Traders are now waiting to see if the Reserve Bank of India steps in to prevent a further sharp fall in the currency.