Benchmarks turn negative in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks erased all the gains to turn negative in late afternoon session. Both Sensex and Nifty were trading below their crucial 48,800 and 14650 marks, respectively. Traders were seen piling up positions in PSU, Oil & Gas and Utilities sectors while selling was witnessed in Healthcare, Telecom and Energy sectors’ stocks. Sentiment on the street weakened after CMIE's managing director and chief executive Mahesh Vyas said the situation on the employment front is expected to continue to remain challenging going forward as well. He said ‘in the month of April, compared to March, we have lost 75 lakh jobs. That is what has caused the jump in the unemployment rate’. The national unemployment rate touched 7.97 per cent as per the Centre's proprietary data, with urban areas witnessing higher stress at 9.78 per cent and rural joblessness at 7.13 per cent. Meanwhile, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has waived Integrated GST (IGST) till June 30 on import of COVID-relief material received as a donation, a move that will speed up customs clearances for such imports, including those by charitable organisations.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors bide their time ahead of the release of key US jobs figures later in the week. European markets were trading mostly in green as investors monitor global recovery prospects and a fresh round of corporate earnings.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 48620.65, down by 97.87 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 48492.60 and 48996.53. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.31%, while Small cap index was up by 0.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 1.72%, Oil & Gas up by 1.04%, Utilities up by 0.80%, Bankex up by 0.58% and Capital Goods was up by 0.53%, while Healthcare down by 0.93%, Telecom down by 0.74%, Energy down by 0.62%, Consumer Durables down by 0.49% and Auto was down by 0.48% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.85%, SBI up by 2.33%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.12%, Indusind Bank up by 1.05% and Axis Bank up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.81%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.67%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.50%, Sun Pharma down by 1.41% and Reliance Industries down by 1.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has waived Integrated GST (IGST) till June 30 on import of COVID-relief material received as a donation, a move that will speed up customs clearances for such imports, including those by charitable organisations.

The Central Government had received a number of representations from charitable organizations, corporate entities, and other Associations/ entities outside India seeking exemption from IGST on the import of Covid-19 relief material (already exempted from customs duty), donated/received free of cost from outside India for free distribution.

This exemption, shall thus enable import of the Covid relief supply imported free of cost for free distribution without payment of IGST (upto the June 30, 2021). As customs duty is already exempt , these imports will not attract any customs duty or IGST.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14602.25, down by 31.90 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 14561.50 and 14723.40. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI Life up by 3.17%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.87%, SBI up by 2.27%, BPCL up by 2.26% and Adani Ports up by 1.91%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer down by 4.80%, Cipla down by 2.88%, Divis Lab down by 1.95%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.73% and Power Grid down by 1.72% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng increased 199.60 points or 0.7% to 28,557.14, KOSPI rose 20.17 points or 0.64% to 3,147.37 and Jakarta Composite was up by 11.22 points or 0.19% to 5,963.82. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 2.97 points or 0.09% to 3,181.79 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 288.57 points or 1.68% to 16,933.78.

European markets were trading mostly in green, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 37.99 points or 0.55% to 7,007.80 and France’s CAC was up by 13.60 points or 0.22% to 6,321.50. On the flip side,  Germany’s DAX was down by 79.10 points or 0.52% to 15,157.37.