Markets remain subdued in afternoon trade

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in afternoon session amid negative signals from other Asian markets. Selling pressure in the Oil & Gas, PSU and Utilities stocks too influenced the markets. Sentiments were fragile as 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, On Thursday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 809 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net offloaded shares worth Rs 942 crore in the Indian equity markets.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower as investors struggled to take the lead from a record performance on Wall Street, and following below-forecast Chinese factory data. Back on street, subscription for the IPO of the infrastructure investment trust, sponsored by the Power Grid Corporation of India grew gradually on the second day of the bidding process on Friday. The issue has been subscribed 18 per cent so far.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49362.47, down by 403.47 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 49229.51 and 49569.42. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.16%, while Small cap index was up by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.78%, PSU up by 1.99%, Utilities up by 1.53%, Energy up by 0.93% and Healthcare was up by 0.65%, while Bankex down by 1.14%, FMCG down by 0.84%, Consumer Durables down by 0.32%, Auto down by 0.26%, Consumer Discretionary was down by 0.26% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 5.05%, NTPC up by 1.89%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.01%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.95% and Infosys was up by 0.77%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 3.63%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.84%, HDFC down by 2.81%, Asian Paints down by 1.90% and ICICI Bank was down by 1.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to pump up liquidity, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is going to conduct a one-day ‘Open Market Operations’ (OMO) on May 6 to simultaneous purchase and sell government securities. The OMO session will see simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities worth Rs 10,000 crore.

Under this OMO, the RBI will sell short-term securities worth Rs 10,000 crore maturing in the current band next year and purchase long-term securities of an equal amount maturing between 2026 and 2030.

The RBI said ‘on a review of current liquidity and financial conditions, it has been decided to conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of Government securities under OMO for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore each on May 6, 2021’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14808.00, down by 86.90 points or 0.58% 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 5.29%, Coal India up by 4.37%, Divis Lab up by 4.20%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 3.66% and BPCL up by 2.60%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 3.57%, HDFC down by 3.11%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.64%, Asian Paints down by 1.95% and ICICI Bank down by 1.79% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Hang Seng decreased 514.70 points or 1.76% to 28,788.56, Shanghai Composite declined 30.73 points or 0.88% to 3,444.17, Nikkei 225 slipped 241.34 points or 0.83% to 28,812.63, Jakarta Composite lost 14.70 points or 0.24% to 5,998.26 and KOSPI was down by 26.21 points or 0.83% to 3,147.86. On the other hand; Straits Times was up by 6.43 points or 0.2% to 3,228.01.