Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended in red on Thursday’s trading session. The start of the day was on a negative note, as India reported 62,224 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the total to 29,633,105. The death count climbed to 3,79,573 with 2,542 fresh fatalities. Domestic sentiments remained downbeat with a RBI article stating that bank deposits and currency holding with the public have been adversely impacted during the second COVID wave, indicating a heavy outgo towards pandemic-induced medical expenditure.

In late morning deals, key indices cut most of their losses, as traders found some support with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) stating that the net direct tax collections (after adjusting refunds) between April 1-June 15 stood at Rs 1,85,871 crore, compared to Rs 92,762 crore over the corresponding period of the preceding year, representing an increase of 100.4 percent over the collections of the preceding year. The rise is mainly driven by personal income tax and advance tax collections.

But, in the last hours of the trade, markets again witnessed sharp fall and finally ended lower. Traders got cautious, after the commerce ministry said that sellers who do not declare local content percentage while uploading their products at public procurement portal GeM will lose out on business and will not be able to participate in bids in which buyer has chosen to procure only made-in-India items. Sentiments were also fragile as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) stood as net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 870.29 crore on June 16, as per provisional exchange data.

On the global front, 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. Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday, after the value of Singapore's non-oil domestic exports were down a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent on month in May, Enterprise Singapore said on Thursday - coming in at SGD15.4 billion. That was well shy of expectations for an increase of 4.7 percent following the 8.8 percent decline in April. On a yearly basis, NODX climbed 8.8 percent - missing forecasts for an increase of 16.0 percent following the 6.0 percent increase in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex ended at 52323.33, down by 178.65 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 52040.51 and 52523.88. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.29%, while Small cap index was down by 0.58%. (Provisional)

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.86%, TECK up by 0.58% and FMCG up by 0.06%, while Power down by 2.38%, Metal down by 2.16%, Realty down by 1.76%, Industrials down by 1.52% and Utilities down by 1.50% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 1.86%, Asian Paints up by 1.37%, TCS up by 1.34%, Infosys up by 1.13% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.91%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.17%, NTPC down by 2.13%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.02% and Axis Bank down by 1.73% were the top losers. (Provisional)

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 ended at 15691.40, down by 76.15 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 15616.75 and 15769.35. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 1.78%, Asian Paints up by 1.38%, TCS up by 1.33%, Tata Consumer Products up by 1.24% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 8.46%, Tata Steel down by 3.36%, Indusind Bank down by 2.92%, Hindalco down by 2.89% and Eicher Motors down by 2.46% were the top losers. (Provisional)

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.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday tracking weak global markets after US Fed officials forecasted two hikes in the rates by end of 2023, earlier than anticipated, as economic activity heats up. Japanese shares declined even as the yen weakened. Foreigners sold a net 16.53-billion-yen ($149.38 million) worth of Japanese stocks in the week ended June 11, data from Japanese exchanges showed. Although, Chinese shares rose as the slowing factory output growth data helped ease fears of policy tightening in the world’s second-largest economy.