Markets trade lower with over half percent cut in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made gap-down opening on Monday following losses in global peers as fears of rising inflation and a relentless surge in Delta variant of the coronavirus in Asian countries. Markets are trading lower with cut of over half a percent each in early deals due to selling in Bankex, Auto and Metal stocks. Sentiments remained dampened as Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant expressed concern over high food inflation due to higher prices of oilseeds and edible oils. Some cautiousness also came as India recorded 38,325 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total caseload to 31,143,595. The death count increased to 414,141 with 501 new fatalities. Traders overlooked Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian’s statement that the country’s economy will start witnessing a growth of 6.5 to 7 per cent from fiscal 2023 onwards, helped by various reforms undertaken by the government so far and also as Covid-19 vaccination drive progresses.

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading lower following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday on mixed retail sales data and an unexpected slump in US consumer sentiment in July amid concerns about inflation. Traders are also spooked by the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus across the world, which is expected to slow the pace of the global economic recovery from the pandemic.

Back home, power stocks were in limelight as total outstanding dues owed by electricity distribution utilities or discoms to power producers fell 15.25 per cent to Rs 82,305 crore in May 2021 from a year ago. There will be lots of earnings reaction based on the performance of the companies. In scrip specific development, HDFC Bank traded lower despite reporting a 16.1 per cent Y-o-Y rise in net profit at Rs 7,729.64 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2021. Clean Science & Technology, the specialty chemical company, got listed on the bourses today.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52776.93, down by 363.13 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 52506.40 and 52821.17. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.18%, while Small cap index was down by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.49%, Oil & Gas up by 0.46%, Telecom up by 0.39%, Energy up by 0.32%, Consumer Durables up by 0.28%, while Bankex down by 1.12%, Auto down by 0.74%, Metal down by 0.59%, Capital Goods down by 0.49%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.46% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.01%, Titan Company up by 0.52%, Reliance Industries up by 0.25%, Nestle up by 0.22% and ITC up by 0.22%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.26%, HDFC down by 2.01%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.21%, Indusind Bank down by 1.17% and ICICI Bank down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyuh Goyal said that India has set a target of 20 per cent ethanol-blending with petrol by 2023-24 and the ultimate goal is to have 100 per cent ethanol-run vehicles.

He said battery technologies are going to be very important for sustainability mission and for renewable energy to progress more and for that the country is investing heavily on batteries now.

He said electric car users will be encouraged to recharge their batteries using renewable energy or solar energy during day hours, for which ‘we are looking at a big rollout of charging stations across gas stations in the country.’ Besides, he added from an overall renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022, India is now looking at 450 GW by 2030.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15818.30, down by 105.10 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 15735.95 and 15833.35. There were 14 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 1.16%, Divi's Lab up by 0.93%, NTPC up by 0.84%, IOC up by 0.71% and Tata Consumer products up by 0.55%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.27%, HDFC down by 2.00%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.20%, Indusind Bank down by 1.18% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.99% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 declined 385.78 points or 1.38% to 27,617.30, Straits Times lost 25.37 points or 0.80% to 3,126.93, Hang Seng plunged 485.13 points or 1.73% to 27,519.55, Taiwan Weighted slipped 135.04 points or 0.75% to 17,760.21, KOSPI fell 32.45 points or 0.99% to 3,244.46, Jakarta Composite dropped 35.43 points or 0.58% to 6,037.08 and Shanghai Composite was down by 11.14 points or 0.31% to 3,528.16.