Benchmarks trade flat with positive bias in early deals ahead of macro-economic data

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly negative start on Monday after showing good performance in previous session amid weakness in Asian peers and ahead of GDP data for the March quarter along with the core sector data for April to be out later in the day. Markets soon turned volatile and are trading tad above neural lines in early deals on account of buying in Telecom, Energy and FMCG counters. Early cautiousness came in as an SBI Research analysis of EPFO payroll data shows that net job creation in the economy fell by 16.9 lakh in FY21 over the previous fiscal. Additionally, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the arrival of monsoon over Kerala is likely to delayed by two days and it is now expected to make an onset over the state by June 3. Though, falling COVID-19 infection rates in India lift up sentiment. India has been witnessing a steady decline in daily cases. The country recorded 153,485 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the lowest daily count in 48 days or since April 13, 2021. Adding some optimism, the government expanded the Rs 3-trillion Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to help businesses hit by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower as tension between the US and China climbed amid calls for a fresh probe into the origins of COVID-19 and China said its manufacturing activity grew at a slightly slower pace in May. Bargain hunting is offering some support, while COVID concerns kept the underlying mood cautious. Back home, aviation industry stocks were in focus with report that domestic air travel is set to become costlier as the Civil Aviation Ministry raised the lower limit on fares by 13 to 16 per cent. In scrip specific development, Bank of Baroda tumbled after it reported a standalone net loss of Rs 1,046 crore for the March quarter. However, Aurobindo Pharma trade slimly higher ahead of its earnings release.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51470.86, up by 47.98 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 51179.94 and 51481.47. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.22%, while Small cap index was up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.10%, Energy up by 0.99%, FMCG up by 0.81%, Metal up by 0.54%, Healthcare up by 0.54%, while Auto down by 0.84%, IT down by 0.66%, TECK down by 0.42%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.06%, Capital Goods down by 0.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.95%, Reliance Industries up by 1.48%, ICICI Bank up by 1.41%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.40% and Asian Paints up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 5.55%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.15%, Infosys down by 0.98%, HCL Technologies down by 0.95% and HDFC down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid second wave of COVID-19, Indian Banks Association (IBA) Chairman Rajkiran Rai said that this has impacted the collections of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in the month of May. He said ‘It is difficult to give numbers but can say that we faced difficulty in collections in the Month of May’. On the impact of the second wave on collection in Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) of Home Loan, Personal loan and payment of credit card bills when compared with the first wave, R Rai said ‘We have seen some substantial improvement in the month of April 21 against April 2020, but we are witnessing the impact on the collection of banks in the current month of May’.

He also said ‘It is difficult to give numbers as there is some time for month closing but can say that we are facing difficulties in collections in May month and we offering the available reconstructing scheme to customers’. He said that the government has announced the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) of Rs 3 lakh crores for MSMEs last year. He added ‘Out of Rs 3 lakh crore of ECLGS for MSMEs Rs 2.54 lakh crore is disbursed to date. Still, there is a window available for roughly, Rs 45,000 lakh crore’.

The IBA also joined hands with SBI to announce three products that have been designed to provide fresh lending support to tackle the pandemic. The IBA and SBI jointly announced three products that have been designed to provide fresh lending support to vaccine manufacturers, hospitals or dispensaries, pathology labs, manufacturers and suppliers of Oxygen, Ventilators, importers of vaccines and Covid related drugs logistics firms and patients for treatment.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15442.65, up by 7.00 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 15374.00 and 15450.90. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divis Lab up by 3.51%, ITC up by 1.95%, Reliance Industries up by 1.53%, ICICI Bank up by 1.43% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 5.46%, Tata Motors down by 1.47%, Wipro down by 1.23%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.10% and Infosys down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 304.21 points or 1.04% to 28,845.20, Straits Times fell 17.62 points or 0.55% to 3,160.88, Hang Seng declined 154.76 points or 0.53% to 28,969.65, KOSPI lost 2.68 points or 0.08% to 3,186.05 and Shanghai Composite was down by 7.17 points or 0.20% to 3,593.61. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted soared 199.06 points or 1.18% to 17,069.92 and Jakarta Composite added 43.63 points or 0.75% to 5,892.25.