The last, pre-GST trading week for stock markets will commence on Tuesday after remaining closed on Monday for Eid, or Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan Id). The Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be implemented from July 1 and therefore would witness cautious trading ahead of the rollout.
Markets ended with losses on Friday as uneasiness resulted in muted trading; negative cues from European markets added to the bearish mood.
The BSE Sensex closed 152 points lower at 31,138 while the NSE Nifty ended at 9,575, down 55 points. Top losers were Tata Motors DVR, Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp and State Bank of India.
In the absence of any significant cues, trading is likely to be influenced by the buzz on GST and information, if any, on the H-1B visa front when Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets US President Donald Trump.
Auto stocks are likely to be in focus on account of monthly volume sales that they are expected to report for June, the last month before GST is rolled out. Most car and scooter/motorcycle makers have been offering huge discounts to buyers to liquidate stocks.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned net buyers of Indian equities on the last two days of trading after going on a selling spree for nine straight days. On Friday, they bought stocks worth Rs 270 crore on a net basis, higher than Rs 193 the previous day, according to provisional data released by the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
The market capitalisation of Tata Group companies stood at $128.5 billion as of June 22, down from $133 billion as of June 8. The top five companies listed on the stock exchanges include TCS, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Titan and Tata Power.
Tejas Networks, which entered the primary market with its Rs 775-crore initial public offering (IPO), is likely to list on Tuesday. The optical and data networking products company had offered 1.27 crore shares by way of offer for sale by existing investors and a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 450 crore, in the price band of Rs 250-257 per equity share.
The company's issue was oversubscribed 1.88 times.
