Benchmarks continue trade in red

The Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade under selling pressures in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and the Nifty falling above 400 and 100 points, respectively. Bankex, Power and Telecom counters were on the priority list of the sellers. Traders shrugged off, the World Bank has scaled up its projection for India's economic growth by 4.7 percentage points to 10.1 per cent for Financial Year 2021-22, citing a strong rebound in private consumption and investment growth.  Traders remain concerned as a report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) stated that India's economic output in 2021 is expected to remain below the 2019 level despite roll-out of the vaccine to deal with the menace of the coronavirus pandemic. Sector wise, Healthcare Sector remained in focus, as Niti Aayog in its report titled 'Investment Opportunities in India's Healthcare Sector’ has said that healthcare has become one of the largest sectors of the Indian economy, in terms of both revenue and employment.

On the global front, all Asian markets were trading lower following a soft lead from Wall Street, while focus turned to the United States where President Joe Biden is expected to unveil his latest multi-trillion-dollar recovery plan for the world’s top economy. European markets were trading lower with bond yields back in focus as investors wait for President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan. Germany’s suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine was also in focus.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49679.44, down by 457.14 points or 0.91% after trading in a range of 49525.56 and 50050.32. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.66%, FMCG up by 1.01%, Basic Materials up by 0.88%, Metal up by 0.82% and PSU was up by 0.53%, while Bankex down by 1.31%, Power down by 1.06%, Telecom down by 0.61%, Energy down by 0.49% and TECK was down by 0.29% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.54%, SBI up by 1.40%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.29%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.28% and TCS up by 1.24%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 3.95%, HDFC down by 3.52%, Power Grid down by 2.23%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.81% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Central Government has released GST Compensation of Rs. 30,000 crore to States as part compensation admissible for FY 2020-21. The total amount of compensation released so far for the year 2020-21 is Rs. 70,000 crore.

As per the decision of GST Council, back to back loan of Rs. 1,10,208 crore has also been released in lieu of shortfall in release of GST Compensation for FY 2020-21. In addition to above, Centre has also released Rs. 28,000 crore (Rs. 14,000 crore to States and Rs. 14,000 crore to Centre) by way of adhoc settlement of IGST on March 30, 2021.

Taking into account the release of GST Compensation, back to back loan and adhoc IGST settlement, balance of only Rs. 63,000 crore approximately GST Compensation is pending to States/UTs for FY 2020-21.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14740.60, down by 104.50 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 14691.25 and 14813.75. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 3.04%, Tata Motors up by 2.47%, SBI Life up by 1.98%, Grasim Industries up by 1.82% and Shree Cement up by 1.74%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 3.98%, HDFC down by 3.62%, Power Grid down by 2.08%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.86% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.77% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower, Nikkei 225 slipped 253.90 points or 0.86% to 29,178.80, Hang Seng decreased 199.15 points or 0.7% to 28,378.35, Taiwan Weighted dropped 123.77 points or 0.75% to 16,431.13, Jakarta Composite lost 85.92 points or 1.42% to 5,985.52, Straits Times trembled 15.99 points or 0.5% to 3,174.90, Shanghai Composite declined 14.77 points or 0.43% to 3,441.91 and KOSPI was down by 8.58 points or 0.28% to 3,061.42.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 24.45 points or 0.36% to 6,747.67, France’s CAC decreased 6.37 points or 0.1% to 6,081.67 and Germany’s DAX was down by 14.87 points or 0.1% to 14,993.74.