Sensex Struggles, Nifty Holds 9,650; Jewellery Stocks Jump

Indian stocks struggled after a weak start on Monday, with the Nifty adding 17 points at day's high and the Sensex gaining as much as 13 points to 31,286. Domestic shares were in line with the other Asian markets, which remained subdued amid geopolitical risks after Saturday's terrorist attack in London, despite US stocks rising to record highs on Friday. Downside was limited in the Indian stocks as metals, realty, auto and oil & gas were trading up to 0.7 per cent higher, giving some respite to overall markets. Midcaps and smallcaps were outperforming the broader markets - up between 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent. Analysts expect stock-specific movement following the GST Council meeting last Saturday.

At 10:15 am, Bajaj Auto, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Bharti Infratel, Bharat Petroleum and Vedanta were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 index - up between 1.2 per cent and 2 per cent. Out of the 50 scrips traded as part of the Nifty, 35 were in the positive zone while 15 succumbed to losses. ITC, Lupin, Coal India, Wipro and Infosys were the top losers - down around 1 per cent.

The Goods and Services Tax or GST Council cleared the pending rules, including transition provisions and returns, with all the states agreeing to a July 1 rollout of the new indirect tax regime.

Shares of jewellery retailers such as Titan Company, PC Jeweller, Gitanjali Gems and Tara Jewels surged between 6 and 15 per cent on Monday as the Goods and Services Tax or GST Council over the weekend fixed a tax rate of 3 per cent on gold and gold jewellery, which was welcomed by the gems and jewellery industry.

The Reserve Bank of India is scheduled to hold its monetary policy meet on June 6 and 7, wherein the central bank is likely to keep interest rates unchanged. However, with inflation well below target the RBI is likely to sound less hawkish than when the Monetary Policy Committee last met, according to a Reuters poll.

Elsewhere, other Asian shares traded flat. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was slightly lower. Japan's Nikkei reversed earlier losses to climb 0.1 per cent as the yen surrendered some of its gains. Chinese shares fell 0.5 per cent, with news of service-sector activity rising in May at the fastest pace in four months failing to lift sentiment. Australian shares slid 0.8 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI was little changed. Taiwan shares bucked the trend, hitting their highest level since 2000 for a second straight session.

On Friday, all three major Wall Street indices hit all-time highs, with gains in technology and industrial stocks more than offsetting the subdued jobs report.