Markets add more losses in late afternoon session

Local equity benchmarks added their losses in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and the Nifty falling above 190 and 95 points, respectively. Investors maintained cautious approach with ratings agency ICRA’s statement that sequential growth slackening driven by the second wave of Covid-19 in India has emerged as a concern. ICRA also cautioned that bruised sentiment, high healthcare and fuel expenses will limit discretionary purchases in the immediate term. Meanwhile, Income Tax Department is expected to launch a new e-filing web portal for taxpayers, which they use to file routine ITRs and perform other tax-related works, early next month. Sector-wise, fertilizer sector remained in focus after the Centre, in a historic pro-farmer decision, has hiked the subsidy on DAP fertiliser by 140 per cent, costing the exchequer an additional Rs 14,775 crore.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after minutes showed some Federal Reserve officials contemplating a wind-down of its vast monetary easing measures, while optimism remained buoyed by the outlook for the economic recovery. European markets were trading higher staging a partial recovery from the previous day's slump.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49,710.88, down by 191.76 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 49750.25 and 50099.17. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.53%, while Small cap index was up by 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.12%, Power up by 1.46%, Healthcare up by 1.06%, Consumer Durables up by 0.43% and Consumer Discretionary was up by 0.43%, while Metal down by 4.00%, Telecom down by 1.85%, Basic Materials down by 1.43%, Oil & Gas down by 1.18% and Bankex was down by 1.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 0.81%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.63%, Indusind Bank up by 0.62%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.61% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.15%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.10%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.93%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.03%, HDFC Bank down by 1.88% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government is aiming to conclude privatisation of PSUs - where the divestment process has already started - this fiscal. The worst outbreak of pandemic in the country has led to disrupting the timetable of scheduled activities such as physical due diligence because of travel restrictions.

The process of privatisation of Air India, BPCL, Pawan Hans, BEML, Shipping Corp and NINL has already moved to the second stage after the government received multiple expressions of interest (EoI) for these CPSEs.

The Budget for 2021-22 has set a disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore, higher than Rs 32,835 crore garnered in the last fiscal. Of the Rs 1.75 lakh crore, Rs 1 lakh crore is to come from selling government stake in public sector banks and financial institutions. Rs 75,000 crore would come as CPSE disinvestment receipts.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14,932.35, down by 97.80 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 14955.20 and 15069.80. There were 7 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer Products up by 0.59%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.44%, Nestle up by 0.39%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.26% and Indusind Bank up by 0.19%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.57%, Tata Steel down by 1.35%, Hindalco down by 1.34%, Adani Ports down by 1.13% and Asian Paints down by 1.10% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng decreased 143.52 points or 0.5% to 28,450.29, Taiwan Weighted dropped 90.30 points or 0.56% to 16,042.36, KOSPI fell 10.77 points or 0.34% to 3,162.28 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.02 points or 0.11% to 3,506.94. On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 6.69 points or 0.22% to 3,110.90, Jakarta Composite soared 37.02 points or 0.64% to 5,797.60 and Nikkei 225 was up by 53.80 points or 0.19% to 28,098.25.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 10.75 points or 0.15% to 6,960.95, France’s CAC increased 30.68 points or 0.49% to 6,293.23 and Germany’s DAX was up by 72.11 points or 0.48% to 15,185.67.