Markets trade under pressure on glitches in vaccination drive, rise in Covid cases

Indian equity benchmarks made pessimistic start on Friday amid weakness in Asian peers. Markets are trading lower with cut of around half a percent each in early deals amid persistent rise in Covid cases and hiccups in vaccination drive. Breaking all records, India reported a massive surge of 386,888 cases, Worldometer showed. Besides, Mumbai for instance announced halting vaccination programme for three days due to the non-availability of vaccine stock. Adding more pessimism, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy stated that the unemployment rate in India has shot up in the first two weeks of April and the monthly unemployment rate is likely to be close to 8% compared to 6.5% in March with lower absorption of labour in the market. Meanwhile, the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has announced a price of Rs 400 per dose for COVID vaccine supplies to state governments. The company had priced Covaxin at Rs 600 per dose for states and Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals.

Most of the Asian markets were trading lower as traders remain cautious amid the fears of a fresh surge in coronavirus infection rates in the region, particularly India and Japan, and the possibility of restrictions or lockdowns in certain markets. This despite the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street on upbeat labor market data and strong results from Facebook and Apple. Taiwan is closed on account of Labor Day.

Back home, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) stocks were in focus as Care Ratings in the report said NBFCs are likely to witness higher credit cost during the current financial year due to the disruptions on account of the second wave of COVID-19. In scrip specific developments, Laurus Labs gained after its Q4 consolidated net profit jumped nearly three-fold. Wipro jumped after revising its Q1FY22 revenue growth guidance. Reliance Industries was in limelight ahead of Q4 earnings to be release later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49502.12, down by 263.82 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 49229.51 and 49569.42. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.08%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.32%, Oil & Gas up by 0.91%, Basic Materials up by 0.75%, PSU up by 0.71%, IT up by 0.62%, while Bankex down by 0.84%, Consumer Durables down by 0.67%, Auto down by 0.42%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.39%, Capital Goods down by 0.26% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 4.71%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.09%, Infosys up by 0.90%, Axis Bank up by 0.57% and Sun Pharma up by 0.50%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.65%, Asian Paints down by 1.35%, HDFC down by 1.35%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.29% and ICICI Bank down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Vice-chairman of Niti Aayog Rajiv Kumar has said that the private sector of the country will have to drive growth and not the public enterprises as they used to be. Kumar said that the private sector also needs to create trust with the government, which is the need of the hour.

He mentioned ‘the private sector of the country has to be the key driver of growth. Earlier, the public sector used to drive the growth engine, but not now.’ He said that India needs to speed up growth rates to at least eight per cent to address the issues of reduction of poverty, improving the healthcare system and increasing the reach of education. The growth process has to be equitable and sustainable.

He said that in 1990, the per capita income of China was the same as that of India. Now, China's per capita income is five times more than that of India. Besides, he stated to register higher growth rates, investments have to be increased as a percentage of GDP and India needs to gain a higher share in the global exports.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14834.90, down by 60.00 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 14730.75 and 14855.45. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 4.95%, Wipro up by 3.12%, Grasim Industries up by 1.80%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.36% and Divis Lab up by 1.30%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.68%, HDFC down by 1.73%, Asian Paints down by 1.28%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.17% and ICICI Bank down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 181.15 points or 0.62% to 28,872.82, Hang Seng fell 447.00 points or 1.53% to 28,856.26, KOSPI slipped 17.70 points or 0.56% to 3,156.37, Jakarta Composite lost 21.40 points or 0.36% to 5,991.56 and Shanghai Composite was down by 17.81 points or 0.51% to 3,457.09, while Straits Times added 10.10 points or 0.31% to 3,231.68.