Benchmarks witness blood-bath as Brexit fears emerge

Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-down start and are trading with sharp cut of  around three and a half percentage points after early counting on the EU referendum indicated that 'leave' votes are more than ‘remain’. Sharp decline in the rupee further dented sentiments. The rupee was at 68.12 per dollar in early deals, down by 87 paise as compared to previous closing of 67.25 per dollar level on Friday. Traders also failed to take any sense of relief some report that the Reserve Bank may slash interest rates on the possibility that inflation will continue to remain high even if monsoon are normal. Global cues too remained awful with all the Asian counters trading in red at this point of time after initial results of the EU referendum indicated probability of Britain leaving the European Union compared to the earlier opinion poll predictions of remain. Back home, selling was both brutal and wide-based as none of sectoral indices on BSE could manage to trade in green. Counters which featured in the list of worst performers included auto, realty and metal.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26027.62, down by 974.60 points or 3.61% after trading in a range of 26027.62 and 26367.48. There were 0 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 2.41%, while Small cap index was down by 2.74%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 4.48%, Realty down by 3.96%, Metal down by 3.93%, Bankex down by 3.87% and Capital Goods down by 3.35%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The lone gainer on the Sensex was Sun Pharma up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 9.21%, Tata Steel down by 6.73%, ICICI Bank down by 6.04%, Axis Bank down by 4.44% and Adani Ports & Special down by 4.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Ministry is looking at the possibility of utilizing certain unused airports for the purpose of parking aircraft and even use aerodromes for plane-breaking or dismantling of old aircraft. Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey has said that the government is considering public suggestion to convert some unused airports into special economic zones (SEZs) where aircraft leasing companies can park their planes and showcase them to potential customers. There are around 400 unused airports and airstrips across the country.

Choubey said that in order to make the domestic aviation space more attractive, the government is looking ways to reduce the cost of leasing aircraft as part of larger efforts. He further said “if the cost of leasing remains high either because of capital or any other procedural requirement, the regional connectivity may find difficulty in taking off”.

Choubey talking about the new civil aviation policy said that it is just the beginning and the government needs to work on how to reduce the cost of leasing aircraft. He added that though the Indian aviation sector is witnessing strong growth, it needs to be made sure that it stays ahead of the growth curve.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7984.25, down by 286.20 points or 3.46% after trading in a range of 7976.30 and 8058.45. There were 0 stocks advancing against 51 stocks declining on the index.

The lone gainer on Nifty was Sun Pharma up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 9.26%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 7.53%, Tata Steel down by 6.87%, ICICI Bank down by 6.10% and Hindalco down by 5.49% were the top losers.

Asian markets were reeling under pressure; Nikkei 225 tumbled 1337.77 points or 8.24% to 14,900.58, Hang Seng slumped 974.22 points or 4.67% to 19,894.12, Taiwan Weighted declined 254.2 points or 2.93% to 8,422.48, Jakarta Composite decreased 93.52 points or 1.92% to 4,780.79, KOSPI Index plunged 83.09 points or 4.18% to 1,903.62, Shanghai Composite shed 34.38 points or 1.19% to 2,857.58 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 26.79 points or 1.63% to 1,613.19.