Bourses add more losses in late afternoon session

Local equity markets have magnified their losses in late afternoon session, hovering near the lowest point of the day on account of selling in frontline counters. Selling was witnessed in Metal, Power and Realty sector stocks. Traders failed to took support, as Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said on Thursday the country's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow at 9.5 per cent in the current financial year (FY 2021-22). This will take the GDP to a level that is slightly higher than in FY20. The strong growth in the second-half will be supported by robust external demand and large scale coverage of vaccination allowing resumption of economic activity. Sector wise, fertilizer sector remained in focus, as Union Cabinet has raised the subsidies for Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and some other non-urea fertilisers by Rs 14,775 crore. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed. European markets were trading lower after the Federal Reserve brought forward its forecasts for hiking interest rates as it looks to prevent overheating in the US economy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52,099.41, down by 402.57 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 52099.72 and 52523.88. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.03%, while Small cap index was down by 0.33%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.36%, TECK up by 0.20% and FMCG was up by 0.12%, while Power down by 2.18%, Metal down by 1.79%, Realty down by 1.67%, Utilities down by 1.50% and Auto was down by 1.30% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 2.01%, Asian Paints up by 1.26%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.82%, Nestle up by 0.76% and Infosys up by 0.57%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.86%, Dr. Reddys down by 1.68%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.49%, NTPC down by 1.46% and ICICI Bank down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting importance of the electric vehicle industry, Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Nitin Gadkari has said that the Government is actively working to support E-mobility in the form of several incentives, GST exemption, and FAME-2 scheme.

Further, the Minister stated that the electric vehicle industry has huge employment potential and efforts are being made to establish India as the largest automobile manufacturing hub in the world. Gadkari said that India is a power surplus nation and E-mobility would be the most effective solution to develop import substitute, cost-effective, indigenous, pollution-free mode of transport.

Hailing India’s research prowess, the Minister said that India’s research and academic institutions like ISRO, DRDO and IITs are working hard towards development of indigenous and low-cost battery technology for electric vehicles. He advocated encouragement to electric mobility in the country and listed out its advantages.

He also said that the low-cost raw material for the batteries can be made available from scrapping of old vehicles. He exuded confidence that the indigenous battery technology, localization of Electric Vehicle (EV) components, and huge domestic demand would make EVs the most affordable means of transport.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15626.00, down by 141.55 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 15616.75 and 15769.35. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 1.77%, Tata Consumer up by 1.33%, Asian Paints up by 1.27%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.08% and Nestle up by 0.93%. On the flip side, Adani Ports down by 7.06%, Tata Steel down by 3.73%, ONGC down by 2.33%, Coal India down by 2.22% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.93% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 slipped 272.68 points or 0.93% to 29,018.33, KOSPI fell 13.72 points or 0.42% to 3,264.96, Jakarta Composite lost 10.12 points or 0.17% to 6,068.45 and Straits Times was down by 1.06 points or 0.03% to 3,138.51. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 7.27 points or 0.21% to 3,525.60, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 82.75 points or 0.48% to 17,390.61 and Hang Seng was up by 121.75 points or 0.43% to 28,558.59.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 26.37 points or 0.37% to 7,158.58, France’s CAC decreased 7.12 points or 0.11% to 6,645.53 and Germany’s DAX was down by 31.47 points or 0.2% to 15,679.10.