Markets end in red ahead of GST implementation

Mumbai: In a holiday-truncated week the headline indices came under pressure, weighed down by losses in global markets and worries of a temporary business disruption due to GST rollout. After opening for the week at 31,194.68 points, the Sensex closed for the week at 30,921.61, losing 0.70 pct from previous Friday’s closing price. During the week, Sensex traded in the range of 30,680.66-31,294.96. The Nifty started the week at 9,594.05 and traded in the range of 9,448.75-45-9,615.40. The Nifty index finally closed at 9,520.90, down 0.56 pct from last Friday’s close. The global market sentiment was subdued as policy uncertainty heightened in the US, with the Senate Republicans being forced to delay vote on a crucial healthcare bill due to lack of support. Back home, the Finance Ministry has started notifying various provisions relating to interest calculation, input tax credit, and valuation, under the GST regime. The government has set interest rate at 18 pct for delayed tax payment, and 24 pct for excess claim of input credit or undue/excess reduction in tax liability. Also appeals and revisions, transitional provisions, and anti-profiteering rules have been notified, which will become effective from July 1. The battered IT sector heaved a sigh of relief during the week as the US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it was looking at the possibility of resuming premium processing of H1-B visas as workload permits. The suspension of prioritized processing of H1-B visas in March had affected the market sentiment on the IT sector. The market remained closed on Monday, June 26, due to Ramzan Id.