Local equities continue to trade with negative bias

Local equities continued to trade with negative bias in late afternoon session tailing weak European markets. Traders were seen piling positions in Healthcare, Realty and Oil & Gas sector while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Metal and Consumer Durables sector stocks. Selling was broad based with both mid cap and small cap indices were trading down by over 0.30%. Sentiment got hit with a private survey stating that India's manufacturing activity expanded at its slowest pace in four months in March and is likely to get worse as demand and output take a hit from the coronavirus outbreak, putting a severe dent in business optimism. The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by IHS Markit, declined to 51.8 in March from February's 54.5, its lowest since November but still above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction for a 32nd month. Adding some worries on the street, Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that India's economic growth is likely to slow down to 4 per cent this fiscal on the back of the current global health emergency. Sector wise, auto stocks were trading down with a private report that the country’s automobile sales are down by an average 64% as all manufacturing plants have been shut since the lockdown announced on March 24.

On the global front, European markets were trading lower as investors braced for more bad news on the American job front and coronavirus cases worldwide topped one million. Back home, in scrip specific development, Sportking India zoomed on starting operations at Bathinda unit and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries traded higher on the bourses.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27816.62, down by 448.69 points or 1.59% after trading in a range of 27683.10 and 28639.12. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.45%, while Small cap index was down by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 3.87%, Oil & Gas up by 1.85%, FMCG up by 1.77%, Utilities up by 1.50% and Realty was up by 0.95%, while Bankex down by 3.91%, Metal down by 2.20%, Consumer Durables down by 2.20%, Auto down by 2.07% and Basic Materials was down by 2.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 9.49%, ITC up by 7.15%, ONGC up by 4.64%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.47% and Bajaj Finance up by 3.01%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 6.50%, Titan Company down by 5.82%, ICICI Bank down by 5.59%, HDFC down by 5.12% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 4.96% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid softer rises in both output and new business, Indian manufacturing activity growth weakened in the month of March 2020, as international demand faltered owing to the coronavirus pandemic. As per the survey report, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) - a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance -eased to 51.8 in March from 54.5 in February. Nevertheless, despite a slowdown, the manufacturing sector activity expanded as the PMI reading stood above the watershed 50 mark, which differentiates growth from contraction.

The report found that manufacturing firms continued to increase their staff numbers in March, but the pace of hiring remained subdued. The rate of workforce expansion was unchanged from February's recent low. Besides, signs of supply-side disruption crept into the Indian manufacturing sector in March, with vendor performance deteriorating for the first time since last October.

On the price front, cost burdens continued to rise, extending the current sequence of inflation to five months. That said, the latest increase was the slowest in that run and only marginal overall. In line with the rise in input costs, firms opted to increase their average output charges in March. Meanwhile, sentiment towards the 12-month business outlook eased in March. Firms remained confident of a rise in output overall, but positivity hit its joint-weakest level since the series' inception in April 2012 (alongside April 2015).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8145.25, down by 108.55 points or 1.32% after trading in a range of 8096.90 and 8356.55. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 9.55%, Cipla up by 8.08%, ITC up by 7.81%, GAIL India up by 6.20% and BPCL up by 4.75%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 6.60%, Titan Company down by 5.71%, ICICI Bank down by 5.54%, JSW Steel down by 5.52% and Wipro down by 5.25% were the top losers.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 51.53 points or 0.94% to 5,428.69, France’s CAC decreased 20.07 points or 0.48% to 4,200.89 and Germany’s DAX was down by 27.36 points or 0.29% to 9,543.46.