Bears hold tight grip over Dalal Street in late morning deals

Bears held a tight grip over the Dalal Street in late morning deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in deep red. Domestic sentiments were negative despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders got worried, as the Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI) said that businesses have been severely impacted, with the revenue falling by almost 50 per cent due to localised lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Many state governments have imposed restrictions and localised lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus.  Besides, the commerce and industry ministry has convened a meeting of exporters on April 20 to discuss export situation against the backdrop of surging coronavirus cases and healthy growth in overseas shipments in recent months.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after Japan's industrial production declined less than estimated in February. The final data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed that industrial production decreased a seasonally adjusted 1.3 percent month-on-month in February. In the initial estimate, industrial production fell 2.1 percent. Shipment declined 1.3 percent monthly in February. According to the initial estimate, shipment fell 1.5 percent. Inventories fell 0.7 percent in February versus 1.0 percent decline in the initial estimate.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 47691.34, down by 1140.69 points or 2.34% after trading in a range of 47362.71 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 was down by 2.41%, while Small cap index was down by 2.04%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Healthcare up by 0.04%, while Bankex down by 4.12%, Realty down by 3.87%, PSU down by 3.55%, Auto down by 3.09% and Consumer discretionary down by 2.80% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The only gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.12% and Infosys up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 5.51%, Indusind Bank down by 5.23%, SBI down by 4.68%, ICICI Bank down by 4.27% and Bajaj Auto down by 4.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) has said that India’s pharma exports witnessed over 18% growth to $24.44 billion during the last financial year (FY21) against $20.58 billion in FY20. Udaya Bhaskar, Director General of Pharmexcil said ‘We have observed a big leap in our exports in the month of March 2021 which is $2.3 billion (figures for March are provisional) and is highest among the exports of all the months of this financial year, the growth rate for this month is 48.5% against the exports in March 2020 ($1.54 billion)’.

He said growth rate seems relatively big as the exports of March 2020 was crunched due to lockdown across the world and supply chain disruption. He added when the global pharma market is negatively grown by 1-2% in 2020, there is a big surge in demand for Indian made generics owing to its quality and affordability, and drug formulations and Biologicals is the second largest Principal commodity being exported by India.

He also said the Pharma exports body is expecting big growth in Indian vaccine exports in the coming years and the government policy on PLI (production Linked Incentive) scheme will also help the domestic pharma to grow by reducing import dependence and develop export potential in the days to come as most of the countries are looking at India for APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredient).

North America is the largest exporting region for Indian pharmaceuticals with more than 34% share. Country wise exports to the US, Canada and Mexico have recorded a growth of 12.6, 30 and 21.4% respectively. South Africa being the second largest exporting country, recorded a big jump of 28% growth while Europe was the third largest exporting region which has recorded approximately 11% growth over previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14278.45, down by 339.40 points or 2.32% after trading in a range of 14191.40 and 14332.00. There were 4 stocks advancing against 46 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.11%, Infosys up by 0.80%, Cipla up by 0.80% and Britannia up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 5.44%, Indusind Bank down by 4.98%, SBI down by 4.66%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 4.50% and Bajaj Auto down by 4.31% 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. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite fell 32.67 points or 0.54% to 6,053.59.