The benchmark indices ended flat, with some negative bias, after a volatile session on Thursday. The Nifty closed below 15,800 level after hitting day's high at 15,890 in the early trade. Bank and financial services stocks advanced while metals, auto and realty shares declined.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 8.03 points or 0.02% to 53,018.94. The Nifty 50 index lost 18.85 points or 0.12% to 15,780.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.74% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.54%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,376 shares rose and 1,900 shares fell. A total of 144 shares were unchanged.

Jittery traders carried forward their futures positions to the July 2022 series on expiry of the June 2022 contracts on Thursday amid concerns over raging global inflation and impending interest rate hikes by major central banks.

Economy:

The Finance Ministry announced that the government will raise taxes on certain goods and services to 18 per cent from current 12%, after the two-day 47th GST Council Meeting that will be made effective from 18 July 2022.

The Goods and Services Tax Council decided to rationalise tax rates on certain goods and services to remove an inverted duty structure, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Chandigarh.

The GST Council also deferred decision on levying a 28% tax on casinos, online gaming, horse racing and lottery pending more consultations with stakeholders, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

The GST Council took no decision on extending beyond this month the compensation paid to states for revenue lost from the implementation of GST. A final decision is likely to be taken at the next meeting of the council in August.

India needs to form Green Hydrogen Corridors and governments can look at providing grants to startups as well as support entrepreneurs to promote green hydrogen, NITI Aayog said on Wednesday.

In a report titled 'Harnessing Green Hydrogen - Opportunities for Deep Decarbonisation in India', the Aayog also suggested that there is a need to facilitate investment through demand aggregation and dollar-based bidding for green hydrogen.

The report suggested that the government should promote the export of green hydrogen and green hydrogen-embedded products through a global hydrogen alliance.

Politics:

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday, 29 June 2022, tendered his resignation, after the Supreme Court refused to give a stay on the floor-test that was to take place Thursday, 30 June 2022. Addressing the people through social media, Thackeray said he also resigned from Legislative Council of which he is the member.

Stocks in Spotlight:

J.B. Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals rose 1.45% after the company said that its board has approved the acquisition of portfolio of brands, for use and exploitation within India, from Dr Reddy's Laboratories. JB Pharma has entered into an agreement with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories to acquire four of its brands Z&D, Pedicloryl, Pecef and Ezinapi for the India market. All four brands are focused on the paediatric segment in the country with a total covered market size of Rs 1800 crore as per IQVIA data. The combined sales of these brands as per internal estimates were approximately Rs 33 crore for FY 2021-22.

Infosys was down 0.34%. The IT major has agreed with The House Fund III L.P., a venture capital (VC) fund based out of the US, for an investment of $10 million. The company said that the investment is expected to be completed by 30 June 2022. It is a minority holding not exceeding 20% of the fund size, it added. Infosys said that the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and application continues to evolve rapidly and is key to the company's strategy with increased usage across its clients for creation of intelligent products/services, security and business transformation. Infosys seeks to partners with such startups to complement its organic capabilities and jointly help its clients across the globe to transform their businesses.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) gained 1.37% after the company's board approved investment proposal for capacity expansion of Digboi Refinery, Assam. The PSU company's board has accorded investment approval for capacity expansion of Digboi refinery from 0.65 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA) to 1 MMTPA along with associated facilities at an estimated cost of Rs 740.20 crore. The company said that the project is expected to be commissioned by October 2025. The capacity expansion would improve the profitability of the Digboi Refinery.

Hikal slumped 4.23%. Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's (MPCB) granted permission to the company on 29 June 2022, to re-start manufacturing activities at its plant located at MIDC Taloja. The company has commenced manufacturing at the plant in a phased manner. “Hikal being a responsible care certified company stands by its commitment to long term sustainability and ethical way of doing business”, said the company. The company had filed a writ petition in the Honorable Bombay High Court against the MPCB direction to grant permission to the company, to re-start manufacturing activities at this unit on 23 June 2022.

ITD Cementation India was down 1.62%. The civil construction company announced that it has secured a letter of acceptance worth over Rs 700 crore for construction of wharf and approach trestle works from Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT) at Jawaharlal Nehru Port. The firm said that it secured orders worth over Rs 6,000 crore in Q1 FY23. It has achieved record orderbook of Rs 20,000 crore, which provides multi-year revenue visibility, the company added.

ABB India fell 1.05%. The company said that it will deliver a digital solution to THINK Gas for maximizing the efficiency, availability, and reliability of its expansive city gas network that incorporates multiple remote terminals across distributed locations. THINK Gas is one of India's fastest-growing companies in the city gas distribution business. With seven licenses to operate across 13 districts in the states of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Bihar, the company supplies natural gas to domestic, commercial, industrial, and automotive (CNG) sectors.

Manappuram Finance was down 1.05%. The NBFC on Thursday announced that the financial resources and management committee of the board approved fund raising upto Rs 770 crore via non-convertible debentures (NCDs), on a private placement basis. In an exchange filing, Manappuram Finance said that the special committee of the board approved the issuance of secured, unrated, unlisted, redeemable, non-convertible debentures of face value of Rs 10,00,000 for a principal aggregate amount of upto Rs 770 crore.

Power Grid Corporation of India rose 0.26%. The company on Thursday announced that its board will meet on 6 July 2022, to consider fund raising upto Rs 6,000 crore via issuance of bonds, on private placement basis. The board of the PSU company will consider and approve raising funds upto Rs 6,000 crore, from domestic market through issue of secured/ unsecured, non-convertible, noncumulative/ cumulative, redeemable, taxable/ tax-free debentures/ bonds under private placement during the financial year 2023-24 in upto twenty tranches/offers.

Global Markets:

The Dow Jones index futures were down 294.60 points, indicating a negative opening in the US stocks today.

European shares slumped across the board whereas most of the Asian stocks declined on Thursday as investors weighed signs of gradual improvement in China's economy and comments from central bank chiefs on tackling persistent price pressures.

European stocks edged lower as market sentiment remains gloomy, there's no prospect of the war in Ukraine ending anytime soon and inflationary pressures continue to build. Aggressive rate hikes by central bank further dampened the investor sentiment, there are growing fears of a global slowdown.

Investors will be digesting the latest developments from the NATO summit in Madrid. NATO leaders have invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance after Turkey withdrew its objections to the new members and the organization reiterated its support for Ukraine as well as outlined its plans to revamp its deterrence and defense strategy.

In economic news, China's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for June was at 50.2.

Stock indexes on Wall Street ended mostly lower in the overnight session after another choppy day of trading.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said she will advocate for a 75 basis point hike to interest rates at the central bank's July meeting if economic conditions remain the same by then.

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