Asian equity markets are higher today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.19%, while the Hang Seng is up 0.03%. The Nikkei 225 is trading higher by 0.13%. US equities closed mostly higher on Friday as Wall Street capped a strong first-half performance.

Meanwhile, share markets in India have opened the day on a strong note. The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 160 points while the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 45 points. The BSE Mid Cap Index and BSE Small Cap index opened the day up by 0.3% & 0.2% respectively.

Barring automobile stocks, energy stocks and information technology stocks, all sectoral indices have opened the day in the green with FMCG stocks and consumer durables stocks leading the pack of gainers. The rupee is trading at 64.74 to the US$.

ITC share price surged over 6% as the benign tax structure under the Goods and Services Tax regime is expected to boost the stock prices and lift earnings of cigarette-makers. Overall taxation burden on cigarettes has come down by 7-9% under the new regime.

Automobile stocks opened the day on a mixed note with & witnessing maximum selling pressure. Several automobile companies have reduced their vehicle prices after the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp, leaders in the country’s four-wheeled and two-wheeled vehicle markets, were the first to drop prices after the 1 July midnight adoption of GST.

For the Maruti Suzuki’s range of vehicles, prices declined between Rs 2,300 and Rs 23,400 a unit. The range was wider at Toyota’s Indian unit, which slashed vehicle prices between Rs 10,500 and Rs 217,000 apiece. Hero MotoCorp’s prices declined between Rs 400 and Rs 4,000.

Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors, and Ford India – manufacturers that compete with Maruti locally – are likely to follow suit with cuts in the next few days, the reports noted.