Bourses trim some gains in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks trimmed some of their initial gains in late afternoon session but continued to trade in green territory. The broader indices, BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading above half a percent.  The markets took support, as RBI’s data stated that the foreign exchange reserves rose by $1.193 billion to reach $582.406 billion in the week ended April 16. In the previous week ended April 9, the forex kitty had surged by $4.344 billion to $581.213 billion. In the week ended April 16, 2021, the increase in reserves was mainly due to a rise in foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves. However, upside remained capped with report that overseas investors withdrew a net Rs 7,622 crore from Indian markets in April so far as a surge in COVID-19 cases and the consequent restrictions imposed by various states dent investors' sentiment. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as investors kept a wary eye on the Covid-19 surge in Japan and India, and awaited cues from key central bank meetings. European markets were trading mostly in green following a strong end to last week on Wall Street as traders turned their attention to the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting and earnings from corporate giants.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 48351.39, up by 472.94 points or 0.99% after trading in a range of 48152.24 and 48667.98. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.71%, while Small cap index was up by 0.87%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.72%, Metal up by 2.66%, Basic Materials up by 2.24%, Bankex up by 2.16% and Energy was up by 1.76%, while Healthcare down by 0.50%, IT down by 0.16% and TECK was down by 0.12% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 4.32%, Axis Bank up by 3.65%, Ultratech Cement up by 3.37%, SBI up by 2.87% and Reliance Industries up by 2.23%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 3.28%, Sun Pharma down by 0.82%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.55%, TCS down by 0.38% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, domestic rating agency ICRA in its latest report has showed that the second wave of coronavirus infections reported from various pockets of the country has come as a ‘strong headwind’ to fashion retailers, and is expected to delay the recovery back to pre-COVID-19 levels till FY23.

According to the report, the industry is set to show a revenue growth of 23-25 per cent on a low base in 2021-22, but that will not be sufficient to get the business performance back to the pre-COVID-19 levels. It said the industry was recovering well till the second wave hit and sales had touched over 70 per cent of pre-COVID-19 levels by the December quarter of 2020.

The rating agency further said that the fashion retailers industry is set to invest Rs 2,400 crore in capital expenditure in 2021-22, largely on store expansions that got deferred as a result of the pandemic, and added that attractive rentals are a pull.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14470.60, up by 129.25 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 14421.30 and 14557.50. There were 36 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 4.40%, Axis Bank up by 3.61%, JSW Steel up by 3.45%, Ultratech Cement up by 3.20% and SBI up by 2.91%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 3.26%, Britannia down by 3.00%, Cipla down by 2.99%, BPCL down by 0.97% and Sun Pharma down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 272.02 points or 1.57% to 17,572.29, Nikkei 225 surged 105.60 points or 0.36% to 29,126.23, KOSPI rose 31.43 points or 0.99% to 3,217.53 and Straits Times was up by 9.87 points or 0.31% to 3,203.91. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 33.00 points or 0.95% to 3,441.17, Jakarta Composite lost 52.04 points or 0.86% to 5,964.82 and Hang Seng was down by 125.92 points or 0.43% to 28,952.83.

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC increased 5.12 points or 0.08% to 6,263.06 and Germany’s DAX was up by 11.14 points or 0.07% to 15,290.76. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 7.00 points or 0.1% to 6,931.56.