Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended near their intraday low points on Friday’s trading session. After a negative start, markets remained lower for the whole day, 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.

Weak trade persisted over the Dalal Street, as indices added more losses in the second half of the trading session. Traders got cautious, amid a private report stating that there has been an over 28 per cent increase in suspected fraudulent digital transaction attempts against businesses originating from India in the pandemic year. Market participants took a note of report that markets regulator Sebi said mutual funds will have to make a disclosure about scheme risk-o-meter, performance and portfolio details to investors only for the particular plans in which they have invested. Traders overlooked report that Ministry of Finance, Government of India has decided to provide an additional amount of upto Rs 15,000 crore to States as interest free 50 year loan for spending on capital projects.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher helped by further evidence that the region is recovering from the pandemic-influenced slump. Asian markets ended lower on Friday, even after China's manufacturing sector grew at the fastest pace in four months in April. The survey results from IHS Markit showed that the Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 51.9 in April from an 11-month low of 50.6 in March. A score above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. Driven by improved market conditions and greater customer demand, total new orders grew for the eleventh straight month in April.

The BSE Sensex ended at 48782.36, down by 983.58 points or 1.98% after trading in a range of 48698.08 and 49569.42. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.65%, while Small cap index was down by 0.07%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.31%, Healthcare up by 0.75%, PSU up by 0.69%, Utilities up by 0.20% and Metal up by 0.07%, while Bankex down by 2.60%, Auto down by 1.42%, Consumer Disc down by 1.10%, FMCG down by 1.00% and Industrials down by 0.97% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 4.32%, Sun Pharma up by 1.57%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.23% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.18%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 4.38%, HDFC Bank down by 4.09%, ICICI Bank down by 3.36%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.24% and Asian Paints down by 2.81% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, amid surge in digital transactions, former finance secretary S C Garg has said that banks need to adopt the model of fintech companies otherwise, they will perish. He noted that fintech companies have already captured a lot of area in the payments space, and now the credit segment, which is the principal business of banks, is witnessing significant action from the fintech players.

Garg underlined that once the limit of digital wallets increases and if the currency gets digitalised with a much more direct relationship between the currency issuer the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the people, the banks will formally get squeezed out of the payments space. But, he is expecting the RBI's initiative on National Umbrella Entity (NUE), which is likely to be promoted by banks, might allow banks to remain major players in the payment space.

Besides, Garg said that in the credit space, fintechs are able to cut down the processes involving credit evaluation and can disburse money fast into the account of the borrowers. He also said that banks also have to become fintechalised or digitalised or virtual banks to be able to retain what their core business (credit) is. If they don't do it, there is a very good likelihood that banks will lose an enormous amount of space in the credit also.

The CNX Nifty ended at 14631.10, down by 263.80 points or 1.77% after trading in a range of 14601.70 and 14855.45. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.94%, Coal India up by 3.90%, Divis Lab up by 3.87%, Grasim Industries up by 3.78% and Indian Oil Corp. up by 2.19%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 4.68%, HDFC Bank down by 4.09%, ICICI Bank down by 3.37%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.11% and Asian Paints down by 2.95% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 9.42 points or 0.14% to 6,970.90, France’s CAC increased 4.83 points or 0.08% to 6,307.40 and Germany’s DAX was up by 79.55 points or 0.52% to 15,233.75.

Asian markets ended lower on Friday following a softer-than-expected Chinese Purchasing Managers' Index. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the recovery in China's manufacturing and services sectors had slowed slightly, with manufacturing PMI at 51.1 in April from 51.9 in March, and non-manufacturing PMI at 54.9 in April from 56.3 in March. Besides, fears of a fresh surge in corona-virus infection rates in the countries, particularly India and Japan, too adding pressure on market sentiments. Japanese shares declined on technology firms’ disappointing outlook, while worries about rising new infections in Tokyo and Osaka also hit investor sentiment.