Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended with losses on Tuesday. After a cautious start, indices traded in green during early morning deals, as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the much-awaited fiscal package to revive the economy ravaged by the second pandemic wave, keeping the fiscal outgo limited for the current year. Additionally, witnessing a sharp decline, India recorded 37,037 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours with 907 fatalities, Worldometer showed.

But soon, markets turned negative and remained lower for the whole trading session. Traders were concerned as S&P Global cut its growth forecasts for some of Asia's top economies including India, the Philippines and Malaysia, offsetting upgrades to China and South Africa and much of Latin America. The estimates, which feed into S&P's closely-followed sovereign ratings, saw India's growth projection chopped to 9.5% from 11% due to its COVID-19 outbreak.

Investors maintained cautious approach during the trading session, as unemployment rate came down further to 8.72% for the week ended June 27 from 9.35% in the previous week, but still remained higher than 8.16% recorded at the beginning of the second Covid-19 wave in early April. The unemployment rate has fallen on a fallen labour participation rate (LPR). The LPR fell from 40.5% in the previous week to 39.6%.

In the last hours of the trade, key indices added more losses and finally ended the trading day on a lower note. Domestic sentiments remained downbeat with a domestic rating agency ICRA stating that nearly a third of loans by NBFCs are in risky segments, and the already elevated non-performing assets ratio for such lenders are expected to rise by up to 1 percent in FY22 due to the impact of the second COVID-19 wave.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher. Asian markets settled mostly lower on Tuesday, after Hong Kong's merchandise exports grew at a softer pace in May. The data from the Census and Statistics Department showed that exports rose 24.0 percent year-on-year in May, after a 24.4 percent increase in April. Imports gained 26.5 percent annually in May, following a 25.2 percent increase in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex ended at 52549.66, down by 185.93 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 52477.77 and 52816.42. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.42%, while Small cap index was down by 0.07%. (Provisional)

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.73%, FMCG up by 0.55% and Utilities up by 0.41%, while Metal down by 1.35%, Telecom down by 1.22%, Oil & Gas down by 1.22%, Bankex down by 1.06% and Auto down by 1.02% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 1.75%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.39%, NTPC up by 1.25%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.83% and Nestle up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.54%, ICICI Bank down by 1.52%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.47%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.39% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.35% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, urging to make use of technology, Minister for MSME and Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has emphasized that all-round efforts are required for implementation of various initiatives undertaken as part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Besides, the minister mentioned that in the journey of making Aaatmanirbhar Bharat, it is imperative that special focus is laid towards Agriculture, Food Processing industry, Leather and Tribal Industries.  He also mentioned that research, innovation and quality improvement can play a major role in industrial development.

Meanwhile, Minister for MSME, Nitin Gadkari launched the integrated services of Udyam Registration Portal with Common Service Centre (CSC) Portal to increase penetration of benefits of various Government schemes amongst MSMEs in far-flung areas.

The CNX Nifty ended at 15748.45, down by 66.25 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 15724.05 and 15835.90. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 1.79%, Cipla up by 1.72%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.31%, NTPC up by 1.25% and Divi's Lab up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Indian Oil Corp. down by 2.44%, ONGC down by 2.41%, Hindalco down by 2.11%, Coal India down by 1.83% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.57% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 19.88 points or 0.28% to 7,092.85, France’s CAC increased 21.75 points or 0.33% to 6,579.77 and Germany’s DAX was up by 93.78 points or 0.6% to 15,647.96.

Asian markets settled mostly lower on Tuesday, even though the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both closed at record highs overnight. Global surge in new Covid-19 Delta plus variants clouding the outlook for the global economic recovery and weakened investors' appetite for risk. Hong Kong shares declined on tracking losses in state-owned energy players like China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and PetroChina. Japanese shares dropped amid news on another impending State of Emergency in Tokyo and other areas due to signs of resurgence in coronavirus infections.