Markets remain under pressure in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in negative territory in late afternoon session. The broader indices Mid-caps and Small-caps also traded weak. Traders remain concerned, as global rating agency S&P Global Ratings in its latest report has said India's external position should remain stable over the next 12 months but COVID-19 pandemic-related risks to growth trajectory could exert downward pressure of the sovereign ratings if there is a weak recovery. The market participants failed to take support with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the country's exports are drastically improving with the outbound shipments contracting 36 percent in May as compared to 60 percent in April. Sector wise, coal stocks remained in focus, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the auction of coal mines for commercial mining in the country on June 18.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green as they looked to rebound from the previous session’s significant sell-off. Back home, in scrip specific development, Cerebra Integrated Technologies traded in green on the BSE and Salasar Techno Engineering gained on inking pact with ATC.           

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33139.45, down by 398.92 points or 1.19% after trading in a range of 32348.10 and 33251.50. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.55%, while Small cap index was down by 1.01%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.30% and Energy was up by 0.21%, while Capital Goods down by 2.36%, Bankex down by 2.26%, IT down by 2.13%, Industrials down by 1.72% and TECK was down by 1.54% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.34%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.19%, Sun Pharma up by 0.89%, Reliance Industries up by 0.77% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.36%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 4.32%, Axis Bank down by 3.91%, Indusind Bank down by 3.50%, Larsen & Toubro down by 3.22% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, few days after projecting India's economy to shrink by 5 per cent in the current fiscal, global rating agency S&P Global Ratings in its latest report has said India's external position should remain stable over the next 12 months but COVID-19 pandemic-related risks to growth trajectory could exert downward pressure of the sovereign ratings if there is a weak recovery.

As per the report, India's external position should remain stable barring a collapse in exports, a steep decline in the central bank's foreign-exchange reserves, or a sustained rise in the current account deficit. It also said that low energy prices, which should persist for some time, will benefit the Indian economy most and hard hitting economic reforms could return to the agenda.

According to S&P, India's economic outlook remains bright, so long as emerging weaknesses are addressed before growth rates fall much further. The rating agency also noted that the course of India's pandemic will play an important role in determining the strength of its economic recovery.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9778.55, down by 123.45 points or 1.25% after trading in a range of 9544.35 and 9818.45. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 4.55%, Shree Cement up by 1.88%, Vedanta up by 1.19%, Asian Paints up by 1.00% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 4.97%, Tata Motors down by 4.71%, ONGC down by 4.43%, Axis Bank down by 4.05% and Indusind Bank down by 3.69% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC increased 21.09 points or 0.44% to 4,836.69 and Germany’s DAX increased 11.64 points or 0.1% to 11,981.93. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 3.11 points or 0.05% to 6,073.59.