Domestic markets trade tad lower in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Friday dragged by the index heavyweights namely HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank and Infosys. But, markets trimmed some of their losses and are trading near neutral lines with marginal cut in early deals. Buying in Basic Materials, Utilities and Power stocks supported the domestic indices. Losses got trimmed as some support came in with Union Minister Jitendra Singh’s statement that India will be an important pillar of the post-coronavirus global economic recovery and that the road map for winning the battle against the pandemic lies in countries restarting the economy and strengthening cooperative federalism. Though, rising coronavirus cases continued to weight on local markets and kept them below neutral lines. India has recorded worst-ever spike of 62,170 case in a single day. With this, India's tally of total cases has crossed the 2-million mark to now stand at 2,025,409. The death toll has soared to 41,627. Adding pessimism, a private report stated that business optimism for the July-September quarter slumped to a record low due to sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, the extension of lockdown in containment zones and staggered easing of restrictions.

Weak global cues also dampened sentiments with all the Asian markets trading lower as ongoing US-China tensions and concerns about the bleak economic outlook weighing on sentiment ahead of key US jobs data due tonight. Street expects U.S. employment to jump by about 1.6 million jobs in July after an increase of 4.8 million jobs in June. On the virus front, a widely cited University of Washington model predicted that the US death toll may almost double by December if the pandemic's pace doesn't change.

Back home, the 2-wheeler stocks were in limelight as ratings agency ICRA revised downwards sales forecast for two-wheelers in India, expecting it to decline by 16-18 percent to around 1.7 crore units in FY2021. In scrip specific developments, Vodafone Idea slid after reporting a sharp rise in its losses to Rs 25,460 crore for the June quarter of FY21. On the other hand, Wipro gained on partnering with Intel to enable Wipro's LIVE Workspace, Wipro's digital workspace solution with the Intel vPro platform.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37939.15, down by 86.30 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 37787.38 and 37966.24. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.92%, while Small cap index was up by 0.83%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 1.21%, Utilities up by 1.05%, Power up by 0.89%, Metal up by 0.85%, Healthcare up by 0.75%, while Bankex down by 0.55%, IT down by 0.33%, TECK down by 0.25%, Consumer Durables down by 0.07% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 0.97%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.78%, Tata Steel up by 0.76%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.69% and ONGC up by 0.58%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.26%, HDFC Bank down by 1.22%, Infosys down by 1.09%, ICICI Bank down by 0.85% and HDFC down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be setting up an 'Innovation Hub' in India for ideation and incubation of new capabilities which can be leveraged to deepen financial inclusion and promote efficient banking services. The new Innovation Hub will support, promote and handhold cross-thinking spanning regulatory remits and national boundaries.

The Hub will act as a centre for ideation and incubation of new capabilities which can be leveraged to create innovative and viable financial products and/or services to help achieve the wider objectives of deepening financial inclusion, efficient banking services, business continuity in times of emergency, and strengthening consumer protection, among others.

The central bank had earlier set up a regulatory sandbox framework in which solutions related to digital payments were invited. Six proposals were accepted under the sandbox, the pilot studies/trials of which have been delayed on account of the Covid-19 situation. Regulatory sandbox (RS) usually refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may (or may not) permit certain relaxations for the limited purpose of testing.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11197.25, down by 2.90 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 11142.05 and 11198.80. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 2.72%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.88%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.18%, Asian Paints up by 1.07% and BPCL up by 0.99%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.19%, Infosys down by 1.16%, HDFC Bank down by 0.99%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.93% and HDFC down by 0.58% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 197.22 points or 0.88% to 22,220.93, Straits Times declined 28.92 points or 1.13% to 2,530.18, Hang Seng plunged 566.15 points or 2.27% to 24,364.43, Taiwan Weighted dropped 114.33 points or 0.89% to 12,799.17, KOSPI fell 2.80 points or 0.12% to 2,339.81, Jakarta Composite lost 43.22 points or 0.83% to 5,135.05 and Shanghai Composite was down by 49.03 points or 1.45% to 3,337.43.