Benchmarks continue lackluster trade slightly in red

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade slightly in red in morning session, dragged by losses in HCL Technologies, Sun Pharma and HDFC Bank amid weak cues from global markets. Traders remained cautious as the Reserve Bank of India sounded a note of caution saying that protracted spread of the COVID-19 pandemic poses downside risk to the domestic economy which is expected to remain in the negative zone in the current fiscal (FY21). Some cautiousness also came with a private report 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. However, losses remain capped as traders took some support with a private report that the Centre is looking to expand the scope of its Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to a few more sectors. The Finance Ministry, NITI Aayog and line ministries are reportedly discussing the PLI scheme for sectors such as chemicals, fertilisers, solar equipment including solar cells, power equipment sector, electirc vehicle (EV) components (batteries, auto parts).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower, as investors turned cautious ahead of the release of U.S. jobs data for July later in the day. Worries about the rising number of coronavirus cases also dampened sentiment. Back home, on the sectoral front, select logistics sector stocks fell as ICRA revised the outlook on the logistics sector from stable to negative given the prevailing circumstances and its near impact on the industry metrics. Stocks related to education sector remained in watch as India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said the new National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) will enable creative learning among students and boost their employment prospects.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37956.91, down by 68.54 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 37787.38 and 38044.17. 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 0.75%, while Small cap index was up by 0.84%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.13%, Power up by 0.92%, Basic Materials up by 0.88%, Metal up by 0.62% and Auto up by 0.60%, while IT down by 0.38%, Bankex down by 0.32%, TECK down by 0.32% and Consumer Durables down by 0.30% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.51%, Asian Paints up by 1.20%, ONGC up by 1.15%, Power Grid up by 1.08% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.93%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.40%, Sun Pharma down by 1.17%, HDFC Bank down by 0.93%, Infosys down by 0.91% and HDFC down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh has said 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. He stated that India has set the tone for global collaboration to deal with the pandemic under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Further, he mentioned that extraordinary foreign outreach of the prime minister the last six years has greatly helped in forging such an international coalition against the pandemic. He said that team work, compassion and statesmanship have defined India's governance in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and it withstood the governance challenge with a robust digital framework.

Besides, he said that it was Prime Minister Modi who gave a wake-up call to the world to fight this challenge by implementing an early nationwide lockdown despite a few cases of infection in India. He added that the foresight and vision of the prime minister helped India to fight the pandemic in an effective manner and the same was emulated by many other countries.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11180.80, down by 19.35 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 11142.05 and 11213.80. There were 26 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining, while 3 stocks remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 2.34%, Asian Paints up by 1.56%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.49%, GAIL India up by 1.20% and BPCL up by 1.14%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.38%, Infosys down by 1.06%, Sun Pharma down by 1.06%, HDFC Bank down by 1.01% and HDFC down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading lower; Taiwan Weighted dropped 89.68 points or 0.69% to 12,823.82, Jakarta Composite lost 54.95 points or 1.06% to 5,123.32, KOSPI fell 1.00 points or 0.04% to 2,341.61, Straits Times trembled 25.38 points or 0.99% to 2,533.72, Shanghai Composite declined 49.03 points or 1.45% to 3,337.43, Nikkei 225 slipped 128.60 points or 0.57% to 22,289.55 and Hang Seng decreased 566.15 points or 2.27% to 24,364.43.