Markets trade flat in afternoon session

Indian benchmarks traded flat in afternoon session, with Sensex losing 28 points, while Nifty was up by 5 points. Traders were seen in selling position for telecom, capital goods and FMCG stocks, while buying was witnessed in auto, realty and consumer discretionary stocks. Traders were taking some solace as Moody's Investors Service said India, China and Indonesia will be the only G-20 emerging economies to post a strong enough pick up of real GDP in the second half of 2020, and retained its projection of 3.1 per cent growth contraction for India in 2020. However, some anxiety came with rating agency ICRA’s report that the economy is expected to contract by 25 per cent each in the first quarter of FY'21 both in terms of GDP (gross domestic product) as well GVA (gross value added).

On the global front; Asian markets were trading mostly in red as the market sentiments dulled with the persisting concerns over subdued business amid fears of more waves of COVID-19 infections. Back on street; in scrip specific developments; FDC jumped after launching 2 variants of Covid-19 drug Favipiravir and Birla Tyres touched upper circuit as company to consider fundraising this week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38815.11, down by 28.77 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 38765.09 and 38980.60. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.35%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.61%, Realty up by 1.09%, Consumer Discretionary up by 0.77%, Metal up by 0.71% and Bankex was up by 0.67%, while Telecom down by 1.91%, Capital Goods down by 0.31%, FMCG down by 0.27%, TECK down by 0.20% and Healthcare was down by 0.16% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 3.55%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.54%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.02%, Axis Bank up by 1.72% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.47%, Asian Paints down by 1.95%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.19%, NTPC down by 1.06% and Larsen & Toubro was down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Expenditure Secretary T V Somanathan has said that the government may look at introducing a second set of fiscal stimulus measures once the COVID-19 infections abate and the fears on the health front subside in the minds of people. He also said the government has also observed that 40 percent of the cash transfers directly into the beneficiaries' accounts recently have been saved and not spent, leading to a feeling that there are limitations of the stimuli measures and hence, making timing the most important factor.

Somanathan said it can be noted that the government's first round of fiscal stimulus was announced in late March, and included measures like extra spend of nearly 2 percentage points of GDP. He said the RBI delivered two deep rate cuts before surprising all with a pause this month, leading some analysts to opine that the government will have to do the heavy lifting now. He also said normal economic activity is in abeyance right now and it has nothing to do with what the government has done or not done, but attributed the same to fears among the people.

He further said right now, the evidence is that the problem is not susceptible of stimulation by fiscal or government measures. It's not as if people are waiting for something to be done by the government and then they are ready to go out and resume normal economic activity. He also said the health situation remains ‘very vulnerable’ in many parts of the country and all the personal services activity beyond finance and insurance, like cinema halls, malls and restaurants have been severely impacted.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11477.85, up by 5.60 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 11461.85 and 11517.55. There were 26 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining, while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 5.39%, Hero MotoCorp up by 4.72%, Zee Entertainment up by 4.10%, Indusind Bank up by 3.61% and Adani Ports & SEZ was up by 3.11%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.46%, Asian Paints down by 1.93%, Grasim Industries down by 1.84%, Britannia down by 1.67% and HDFC Life Insurance was down by 1.34% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Straits Times trembled 23.16 points or 0.91% to 2,535.87, Nikkei 225 slipped 5.91 points or 0.03% to 23,290.86, Jakarta Composite lost 8.70 points or 0.16% to 5,330.19, Hang Seng decreased 39.92 points or 0.16% to 25,446.30 and Shanghai Composite was down by 45.08 points or 1.34% to 3,328.50.

On the other side; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 75.04 points or 0.59% to 12,833.29 and KOSPI was up by 2.59 points or 0.11% to 2,369.32.