Mkts rebound on record GST

Mumbai: Stock markets rebounded on Thursday with benchmark Sensex closing higher by 128 points as record GST collections in April, positive manufacturing data, and foreign fund inflows boosted investor sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed128.33 points or 0.17 per cent to settle at 74,611.11 in a restricted trade. During the day, the index rose by 329.65 points or 0.44 per cent to a high of 74,812.43.The NSE Nifty rose by 43.35 points or 0.19 per cent to 22,648.20 as 29 of its constituentsadvanced and 21 declined.

From the Sensex basket, Power Grid, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and JSW Steel were among the major gainers. Kotak Mahindra Bank was the biggest loser, dropping 2.95 per cent after the bank announced the exit of its joint managing director KVS Manian. ICICI Bank dropped a little over 1 per cent. India's second-largest private lender rejected a media report that suggested that its MD and CEO was willing to step down.

Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Wipro and IndusInd Bank were among the laggards. Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said: "Benchmark indices saw moderate gains, mirroring global trends after the US FED decided to maintain its interest rate, as widely accepted. The US central bank hinted at potential rate cuts while remaining cautious about sustaining the high inflation trend." The broader market largely traded range-bound, while positive commentary from the auto companies on recent volume numbers led the sector tooutperform, Nair added.

Goods and Services Tax collections grew 12.4 per cent to a record high of Rs 2.10 lakh crore in April, aided by strong economic momentum and increased domestic transactions and imports, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.