Market Cues Today: S&P Ratings Upgrade, GST Reforms And Other Factors Likely To Affect D-Street Today

The benchmark indices finished in the green on August 14. The headline indices also snapped a six-week losing streak in the truncated trading week. On August 14, the Nifty finished the session at 24,631.3 up by 11.95 points or 0.05 per cent on the other hand the Sensex closed the session at 80,597.66 up by 57.75 points or 0.072 per cent. Several cues are expected to impact trade on D-street on August 13 such as S&P Global’s ratings upgrade and domestic factors such as GST reforms.

Market Cues Today

Here’s a look at the major stock market cues which are expected to impact trade on August 18:

GST Reforms 

The indirect tax regime is set to witness a slew of changes proposed by the Centre. The proposals include the scrapping of 12 per cent and 28 per cent GST slabs. The reforms seek to bolster economic growth. Additionally the products and services on which 12 per cent and 18 per cent GST was levied will now attract 5 per cent and 18 per cent GST. On the other hand goods taxed in the 28 per cent slab will now attract a 40 per cent GST.

S&P Ratings Upgrade

S&P Global changed India’s long-term sovereign credit rating to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB-‘. The credit rating firm also upgraded India’s short-term rating to ‘A-2’ from ‘A-3’. The ratings upgrade indicates strong creditworthiness and a projection of stability in India’s economic fundamentals and policy management. Notably this is the first  long-term sovereign rating upgrade after 2007.

Crude Oil Prices On August 18

Crude oil prices traded mixed on August 18, the price of West Texas Intermediate Crude edged higher by $0.01 or 0.02 per cent to $62.81 at the time of writing. On the other hand the price of Brent Crude dropped marginally by $0.09 or 0.14 per cent to $65.76.

Gold Rate Today

Gold rates fell marginally on August 18. The price of one gram of 24 karat gold remained around Rs 10,117 per gram while the price of one gram of 22 karat gold remained around Rs 9,274. The price of 18 karat gold traded around Rs 7,588 per gram.

US Futures

US Futures which are linked to key Wall Street benchmarks gained on optimism surrounding the announcement of rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The DJIA futures inched higher by 0.09 per cent and the S&P 500 futures and the Nasdaq 100 futures traded higher by 0.11 per cent and 0.18 per cent respectively.

Asian Markets On August 18

Major Asian indices traded in the green in the early hours of August 18. The Nikkei 225 traded higher by 1 per cent, the Hang Seng traded higher by 0.4 per cent and the Shanghai Composite gained 1.18 per cent. However South Korea's KOSPI witnessed a decline of 1.18 per cent at the time of writing.