Bourses continue volatile trade in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks continued their volatile trade in late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling up positions in Energy, Oil & Gas and Consumer Durables sectors while selling was witnessed in Metal, Basic Materials and Realty sectors' stocks. Traders were cautious, as chief economic advisor (CEA) K V Subramanian has said the overall impact of the second wave of Covid-19 on the country's economy is not likely to be large but cautioned about uncertainty surrounding the pandemic going ahead. Further, he said that given the circumstances due to the pandemic, it is difficult to forecast if the country would achieve a double digit growth in the current fiscal. Besides, India’s manufacturing sector activity witnessed a significant loss of growth momentum in May due to the intensification of the COVID-19 crisis and its detrimental impact on demand. Sector wise, Power sector remained in focus, as Power consumption in the country witnessed an 8.2 per cent year-on-year growth in May at 110.47 billion units (BU), indicating slow recovery in commercial and industrial demand of electricity.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as investors looked ahead to U.S. jobs data for reassurance the biggest global economy is improving following the previous month’s big hiring miss. European markets were trading higher with U.S. equity futures, and commodities including oil jumped, as optimism mounted over the economic recovery from the pandemic.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51908.55, down by 28.89 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 51808.88 and 52228.65. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.28%, while Small cap index was down by 0.45%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.72%, Oil & Gas up by 0.58%, Consumer Durables up by 0.30% and PSU was up by 0.28%, while Metal down by 1.81%, Basic Materials down by 1.20%, Realty down by 0.86%, IT down by 0.63% and Telecom was down by 0.59% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.43%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.54%, SBI up by 1.83%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.20% and HDFC up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.91%, ICICI Bank down by 1.72%, Infosys down by 0.98%, Axis Bank down by 0.70% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Indian manufacturing activity eased in the month of May, showing a significant loss of growth momentum. Due to the intensification of the COVID-19 crisis and its detrimental impact on demand, companies observed the slowest rises in new work and output for ten months. There was also a substantial slowdown in growth of input purchasing and another round of job shedding.

As per the survey report, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) - a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance - stood at 50.8 in May as against 55.5 in April. The report said that firms scaled up production volumes during May, but the pace of expansion was modest in the context of historical data. In fact, the rise was the weakest in the current ten-month period of growth.

On the price front, raw material scarcity exerted further upward pressure on input costs. The rate of inflation eased to a four-month low, but remained sharp and above its long-run average. Amid reports of ongoing efforts to protect margins from cost increases, firms lifted their selling prices again in May. The rate of charge inflation was solid, but softened from April.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15561.60, down by 21.20 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 15528.30 and 15660.75. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.26%, Adani Ports up by 3.02%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.37%, SBI up by 1.77% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.18%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 2.38%, Tata Steel down by 2.36%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.89%, ICICI Bank down by 1.82% and Grasim Industries down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 93.95 points or 0.55% to 17,162.38, Hang Seng increased 316.20 points or 1.08% to 29,468.00, KOSPI rose 17.95 points or 0.56% to 3,221.87, Shanghai Composite gained 9.23 points or 0.26% to 3,624.71 and Straits Times was up by 21.54 points or 0.68% to 3,185.82. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 45.74 points or 0.16% to 28,814.34.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 73.44 points or 1.05% to 7,096.05, France’s CAC increased 42.07 points or 0.65% to 6,489.24 and Germany’s DAX was up by 181.78 points or 1.18% to 15,602.91.