Indices add losses in morning deals

Indian benchmark indices added to their early losses and fell over a percent in Wednesday's morning deals amid feeble global cues. Sentiments remained down-beat amid concerns that rising Covid-19 cases in the country may dent economic recovery. Traders overlooked Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur’s statement that increased economic activities have resulted in higher GST collection which stood above Rs 1 lakh crore for five months in a row since October 2020. He said this could be possible on the back of the measures taken by the government to boost economic activities over the last year to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Market participants also paid no heed towards survey by Nasscom stated that chief executive officers (CEO) of Indian technology companies are most optimistic about the global economy, with 97 per cent believing that 2021 will be better than the difficult year of 2020.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower as coronavirus lockdowns in Europe and potential U.S. tax hikes hit risk appetite, leading to a flight to safety. Back home, on the sectoral front, stocks related to Telecom sector remained in watch as India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said providing services like broadband connectivity, cable TV, enterprise solutions, and payment wallets is the need of the hour for telcos, and a second wave of consolidation is upon the industry.  The agency said the sector, which was battered following the aggressive entry of Reliance Jio, will continue showing signs of recovery amid conducive regulatory environment and maintained a stable outlook for the industry in FY22.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49528.48, down by 522.96 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 49431.18 and 49854.58. There were 5 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.92%, while Small cap index was down by 0.45%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.24%, Healthcare up by 0.24% and Power up by 0.02%, while Metal down by 2.20%, Realty down by 1.86%, Bankex down by 1.55%, Energy down by 1.50% and PSU down by 1.40% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.43%, Power Grid up by 0.66%, Sun Pharma up by 0.48%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.16% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.13%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.66%, SBI down by 2.40%, ICICI Bank down by 2.03%, Axis Bank down by 1.86% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur has said that steps taken by the government during the coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic have helped the economy recover, and the country is expected to clock double-digit growth in the next fiscal.

The minister has stated that the government will spend Rs 1.97 lakh crore on production-linked incentive (PLI) and has identified more than 10 sectors to be included, which would in turn create job opportunities for the youth. He also said people who are raising apprehension about the recovery of the economy should see GST collections of the past few months. He noted that the GST collection rose, which was over Rs 1.10 lakh crore in the last five year. This was because of the policy adopted by our government.

On the public sector undertakings, Thakur said no one can deny about their contribution, but, with the passage of time, several things have changed. He also said disinvestment has been the policy of every government and even the previous government had tried this and the government has a clear and transparent policy in this regard. He said ‘we have brought schemes as PLI in mobile manufacturing. Earlier, India had only two mobile manufacturing industry and within five years, we have become the second-largest mobile manufacturer of the world.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14639.25, down by 175.50 points or 1.18% after trading in a range of 14626.55 and 14752.35. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 1.41%, Cipla up by 0.97%, Power Grid up by 0.71%, Sun Pharma up by 0.50% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.22%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.23%, Hindalco down by 3.96%, GAIL India down by 2.83%, SBI down by 2.66% and ONGC down by 2.61% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading lower; Hang Seng decreased 557.25 points or 1.96% to 27,940.13, Nikkei 225 slipped 599.58 points or 2.07% to 28,396.34, Shanghai Composite declined 43.67 points or 1.28% to 3,367.84, KOSPI fell 11.98 points or 0.4% to 2,992.76, Jakarta Composite lost 56.77 points or 0.91% to 6,195.94, Straits Times trembled 6.13 points or 0.2% to 3,125.61 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 163.89 points or 1.01% to 16,013.70.