Bourses trade near lowest point in late afternoon session

Indian equities added losses in late afternoon session, hovering near the lowest point of the day on account of selling in frontline counters. Traders remained anxious after unemployment rate increased to 7.14% for the week ended July 25 from 5.98% in the previous week. Both urban and rural areas contributed to the spike in joblessness. Unemployment rate in urban areas increased marginally to 8.01% from 7.94% a week before; the rise was sharper in rural areas, from 5.1% to 6.75%. Sector wise, banking sector remain in focused, as Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad has said non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans of banks have declined by Rs 61,180 crore to Rs 8.34 lakh crore at the end of March 31, 2021, as result of various steps taken by the government. Scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) were carrying NPAs worth Rs 8.96 lakh crore on their balance sheet at the end of March 2020.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red amid investors looked ahead to a Federal Reserve report for an update on when US stimulus might start winding down. European markets were trading lower as investors continued to monitor corporate earnings, along with extreme weather and the spread of Covid-19 across the continent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52517.82, down by 334.45 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 52433.18 and 53024.70. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.76%, while Small cap index was down by 0.36%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.04%, while Healthcare down by 3.47%, Power down by 1.44%, Energy down by 1.25%, Utilities down by 1.03% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.91% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.00%, Tata Steel up by 1.95%, Nestle up by 1.44%, SBI up by 1.39% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 11.20%, Sun Pharma down by 3.29%, Axis Bank down by 3.24%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.46% and Reliance Industries down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said that as per the Provisional Estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the year 2020-21 released by the National Statistical Office, the Gross Value Added (GVA) of agriculture has shown a growth of 3.6 per cent, signalling better prospects of consumption in rural India.

The Minister also stated that total foodgrain production is estimated to rise 2.7 per cent to a new record of 305.44 million tonne in the current crop year 2020-21, on record output of rice, wheat, maize and gram.

Further, domestic tractor sales, an indicator of rural demand, recorded a growth of 27 per cent in FY 2020-21 over previous year. Besides, the Minister stated that the forecast of a normal south-west monsoon in 2021-22 and recent trends in kharif sowing are further expected to boost rural incomes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15725.30, down by 99.15 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 15701.00 and 15881.55. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.00%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.00%, Tata Steel up by 1.88%, SBI Life up by 1.78% and Nestle up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 11.18%, Cipla down by 4.25%, Divi's Lab down by 3.83%, Sun Pharma down by 3.50% and Axis Bank down by 3.33% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng decreased 1105.89 points or 4.22% to 25,086.43, Taiwan Weighted dropped 133.69 points or 0.77% to 17,269.87, Shanghai Composite declined 86.26 points or 2.49% to 3,381.18, Jakarta Composite lost 9.34 points or 0.15% to 6,097.05 and Straits Times was down by 2.34 points or 0.07% to 3,136.63. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 7.58 points or 0.24% to 3,232.53 and Nikkei 225 was up by 136.93 points or 0.49% to 27,970.22.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 69.25 points or 0.99% to 6,956.18, France’s CAC decreased 50.32 points or 0.76% to 6,528.28 and Germany’s DAX was down by 152.27 points or 0.97% to 15,466.71.