Indian share markets continued to witness volatility during the closing hours of the trading session and ended the day on a flat note. Gains were largely seen in the consumer durables sector and metal sector, while energy stocks and telecom stocks witnessed selling pressure.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 26 points (down 0.1%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 2 points. Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index, ended the day down by 0.2%.

Asian stock markets finished on a positive note as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng stood up by 1.5% and the Nikkei was trading up by 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite stood higher by 2.7%.

European markets were also trading on a positive note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.88%. The DAX, was up by 0.89% while the CAC 40 was up by 0.77%.

The rupee was trading at 68.67 to the US$ at the time of writing.

In the news from macroeconomic space, the government in a statement today said that India has doubled the import tax on 328 tariff line of textile products from the existing 10% to 20%. The tariff has been raised under Section 159 of the Customs Act, 1962.

The above move is aimed at boosting the manufacturing of these items in domestic markets.

The above development will provide the much-needed relief to the domestic textile industry which has been hurt lately by rise in imports of certain products. It will also help create jobs in the domestic textile sector. This is also the second time in a month where the duty on fabric-related commodities has been increased.

Note that the government had last month doubled import duty on over 50 textile products including jackets, suits and carpets to 20% to promote domestic manufacturing.

What effect this increase in the import tax have on textile companies as well as textile stocks remain to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.