Sensex, Nifty Rally On GST Rejig

(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened on a buoyant note on Thursday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced significant GST rate cuts, effective September 22.

The GST revamp brings a majority of items in the 5 percent and 18 percent slabs, with several items like breads and paneer now facing nil tax.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was up 670 points, or 0.8 percent, at 81,236, with buying seen across the board.

The broader NSE Nifty index jumped 203 points, or 0.8 percent, to 24,918.

Among the top gainers, Mahindra & Mahindra surged 6.2 percent, Bajaj Finance climbed 4.2 percent and Trent advanced 2.3 percent.

HDFC Bank, UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Motors, ITC and Bajaj FinServ rose 1-2 percent.

Poly Medicure rallied 2 percent after it has entered into an agreement for acquisition of up to 90 percent stake in Netherlands-based PendraCare Group.

BHEL rose about half a percent on receiving a Rs. 2,600 crore Letter of Intent from MB Power.

RailTel Corporation added 0.6 percent on securing a new order worth Rs 14.94 crore from the Ministry of Home Affairs for supply and installation of IP-based CCTV surveillance systems.

Swiggy was little changed after hiking its platform fee to Rs 15 per order.