Markets witness bloodbath in early deals: Nifty slips below 14,250 mark

Indian equity benchmarks made gap-down opening on Monday on concerns over economic growth amid continue rising COVID-19 cases in the country and stricter restrictions imposed in various states. Markets extended their losses in early deals on account of selling in all the sector indices except healthcare. Sentiments were dulled as India reported 275,306 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases, the highest single-day spike so far since the pandemic broke out, Worldometer showed. With this, India's Covid tally has shot up to 15,057,767 cases. Adding more pessimism, a private report stated that leading brokerages have downgraded India's GDP growth projections for the current fiscal year to as low as 10 per cent on local lockdowns threatening fragile recovery, with the resurgence of COVID-19 cases posing risks to economic recovery. Also, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pulled out a net Rs 4,615 crore from Indian markets in April so far amid sharp escalation in COVID-19 cases and the consequent restrictions imposed by various states, unnerving overseas investors.

Traders overlooked largely positive global cues. Most of the Asian markets were trading higher following broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with upbeat earnings news and strong economic data from the U.S. and China generating continued buying interest and boosting optimism about a solid global economic recovery. Back home, pharma stocks were in focus as Pharmexcil said pharma exports from India witnessed over 18% growth to $24.44 billion during the last financial year against $20.58 billion in FY20. In scrip specific development, HDFC Bank lost after its fourth-quarter profit came in below estimates. ICICI Lombard tumbled despite reporting a 22.6 percent rise in Q4 net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 47423.46, down by 1408.57 points or 2.88% after trading in a range of 47419.19 and 47940.81. There were 2 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 2.72%, while Small cap index was down by 2.74%.

The sole gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Healthcare up by 0.44%, while Bankex down by 4.71%, Realty down by 4.16%, PSU down by 3.84%, Auto down by 3.62%, Consumer Durables down by 3.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.18% and Sun Pharma up by 0.29%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 5.48%, ICICI Bank down by 5.46%, SBI down by 5.30%, Axis Bank down by 5.22% and Bajaj Finance down by 4.75% were the top losers.

meanwhile, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subramanian has said that the Indian economy is in better shape to address the challenge of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic compared to last year as vaccines have been developed and vaccination drives are taking place. On saving lives and livelihoods, Subramanian said the government was driven by the simple goal of saving lives throughout the pandemic. He said ‘If you read the Mahabharata, there is this objective very clearly mentioned, ‘Saving a life that is in jeopardy is the origin of dharma.’ He stated ‘the essence of that was to actually save lives, which is what the government focused on at the start of the pandemic. We have sort of emerged from there.’

One key thing that has stood out during the pandemic is the role of e-commerce and digitisation that India has embraced. He said ‘I think the most salient example of this is if you take the way in which essentials were provided to you know almost 800 million people in India.’ This was done through the Public Distribution System (PDS) and the use of Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-mobile.  He said 'I think the Indian economy is really equipped to usher in significant growth, that is happening in e-commerce.'

He highlighted the importance of viewing ‘data’ as a public good, where it is about ‘of the people, by the people and for the people.’ That is an area where public-private partnerships can be really critical. The value-added data that can actually be generated by these public-private partnerships can be useful in healthcare, finance, trade, trade credit. Also, technologies such as blockchain would play a key role in pushing better data and at the same time take care of the privacy protocols. He mentioned India is among the leading economies in terms of embracing this change. India will definitely benefit from this change that has been brought by the Covid pandemic.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14206.55, down by 411.30 points or 2.81% after trading in a range of 14198.75 and 14326.10. There were 4 stocks advancing against 46 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 1.08%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 0.93%, Sun Pharma up by 0.17% and Divis Lab up by 0.10%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 5.41%, ICICI Bank down by 5.37%, Axis Bank down by 5.36%, SBI down by 5.06% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 4.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 rose 76.23 points or 0.26% to 29,759.60, Straits Times added 9.06 points or 0.28% to 3,210.82, Hang Seng surged 240.64 points or 0.83% to 29,210.35, Taiwan Weighted jumped 96.26 points or 0.56% to 17,255.07, KOSPI gained 6.99 points or 0.22% to 3,205.61 and Shanghai Composite was up by 44.55 points or 1.30% to 3,471.17. However, Jakarta Composite fell 27.08 points or 0.44% to 6,059.18.