Benchmarks turn negative in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks erased their gains and turned negative in late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling up positions in Basic Materials, Realty and Consumer discretionary sectors while selling was witnessed in Telecom, Power and TECK sectors’ stocks. Traders were cautious even after Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in its latest survey report stated that India’s economy is expected to see a swift recovery from the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 as lockdowns were largely designed to limit social gatherings and did not affect economic activities much. Sector wise, power sector traded lower despite India's power consumption grew nearly 18 per cent in first week of July to 30.33 billion units (BU) compared to a year ago and returned to pre-pandemic level mainly due to easing of lockdown curbs and delayed monsoon.

On the global front, all Asian markets were trading higher recovering from last week's volatility, with traders buoyed by a record performance on Wall Street though fears about the fast-spreading Delta variant continue to weigh on sentiment. European markets were trading lower, as investors sold economically sensitive sectors on worries that the spread of new coronavirus variants was stalling a global economic recovery.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52,259.95, down by 126.24 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 52250.91 and 52700.51. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.44%, while Small cap index was up by 0.74%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.33%, Basic Materials up by 0.85%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.45%, Bankex up by 0.38% and Auto was up by 0.26%, while Telecom down by 0.67%, Power down by 0.37%, TECK down by 0.36%, IT down by 0.27% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.21% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 2.44%, ICICI Bank up by 0.97%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.84%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.76% and Axis Bank up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.17%, HDFC down by 1.10%, HDFC Bank down by 0.92%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.80% and Infosys down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, suggesting measures to speed up the implementation, Piyush Goyal has taken review the textile sector schemes and their progress. The Minister took review of the various schemes/activities implemented/undertaken by the Office of the Textile Commissioner, Textiles Committee, Cotton Corporation of India, Export Promotion Councils and Textile Research Organizations.

Further, the Minister emphasized the need for close liasioning and co-ordination between the Government agencies and the local elected representatives for making a congenial atmosphere in implementing the various Government initiatives.

The Minister opined that the applications received under subsidy-oriented schemes should be processed in a transparent manner using automation keeping in view the broad objective of each scheme and necessary mechanism should be devised so that personal contact of industry and department can be eliminated and standardized process free discretion. Special dispensation for MSME to be done for recorded reasons.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15,664.75, down by 25.05 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 15654.65 and 15789.20. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 2.39%, Grasim Industries up by 1.89%, JSW Steel up by 1.80%, Shree Cement up by 1.77% and Tata Consumer up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Adani Ports down by 1.28%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.20%, BPCL down by 1.16%, HDFC down by 1.03% and HDFC Bank down by 0.91% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher, Nikkei 225 surged 628.60 points or 2.25% to 28,569.02, Hang Seng increased 170.70 points or 0.62% to 27,515.24, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 152.85 points or 0.87% to 17,814.33, Jakarta Composite soared 38.73 points or 0.64% to 6,078.57, KOSPI rose 28.52 points or 0.89% to 3,246.47, Shanghai Composite gained 23.75 points or 0.67% to 3,547.84 and Straits Times was up by 10.68 points or 0.34% to 3,142.08.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 43.75 points or 0.61% to 7,078.13, France’s CAC decreased 29.41 points or 0.45% to 6,500.01 and Germany’s DAX was down by 31.94 points or 0.2% to 15,655.99.