Sensex rebounds 209 points as GST Council freezes tax rates

Mumbai: Markets made a somersault of sorts today as the benchmark Sensex rebounded 209 points to 30,643 on the GST Council's finalisation of tax rates for bulk of the items except six categories.

A firming trend at other Asian markets tracking rebound on the Wall Street on positive data supported the indices to recoup most of yesterday's lost ground. The BSE Sensex recovered 208.82 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 30,643.61. The gauge had declined by 223.98 points yesterday.

Similarly, the broader 50-issue NSE Nifty rose by 57.45 points, or 0.61 per cent, to quote at 9,486.90. Foodgrains and common-use products like hair oil, soaps and toothpaste will cost less from July 1 when GST is due to be rolled out.

Coal India rallied 2.62 per cent, followed by NTPC and PowerGrid. The goods and services tax (GST) on coal has been brought down to 5 per cent form the current tax incidence of 11.69 per cent, making electricity generation cheaper.

The largest lender SBI rose 1.98 per cent to Rs 308.95 ahead of its earnings to be announced later in the day.

Other gainers that supported the recovery were ITC Ltd, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, Lupin, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports and Reliance Industries, rising by up to 4.44 per cent.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.30 per cent, Shanghai Composite rose 0.12 per cent and Japan's Nikkei gained 0.19 per cent in early deals today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.27 per cent higher yesterday.