Massacre continues in markets; Nifty slips below 17450 mark

Magnifying losses, local equity markets were languishing at day’s low level in afternoon session amid resurgence of coronavirus outbreaks in Europe and some other regions. Sulking at day’s low, both Sensex and Nifty continue trading below the crucial 58700 and 17450 levels respectively, with losses of over one and half a percent each. Meanwhile, broader indices falling fast with colossal losses of around 2.50%. Traders’ sentiments were impacted as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were stood as net sellers in the capital market, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,930.62 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data. Also, RBI data showed that the country’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $763 million to $640.112 billion in the week ended November 12. In scrip specific development, Reliance industries was under pressure as the country's largest firm decided to halt a stake sale in its oil-to-chemicals business (O2C) to Saudi Arabia's Aramco and pulled back from a potential spinoff of its most profitable unit. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with fears about renewed containment measures to battle a surge in European Covid cases adding to growing speculation that central banks will have to tighten monetary policy quicker to tame a spike in inflation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58614.40, down by 1021.61 points or 1.71% after trading in a range of 58501.88 and 59778.37. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 2.48%, while Small cap index was down by 2.57%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom was up by 2.65%, while Realty down by 4.26%, Energy down by 3.87%, Auto down by 3.01%, Consumer Durables down by 2.81% and Oil & Gas was down by 2.68% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.90%, Asian Paints up by 1.81%, Power Grid up by 0.65% and TCS was up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 5.41%, Reliance Industries down by 4.36%, Bajaj Finserv down by 4.09%, SBI down by 3.91% and Maruti Suzuki was down by 3.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has said that India’s Gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to grow by 7 - 7.5 percent in the next fiscal year (FY23). It said this should not mean that the Union Budget for 2022-23 should project unrealistically high tax revenue or tax buoyancy numbers.

It said other than an element of the base effects, the contact intensive sectors and construction should recover in 2022-23. Once capacity utilization improves, private investments should also recover. It noted that the Union Budget for 2021-22 was applauded because of reform measures, as well as transparency and realism in the numbers.

It said EAC-PM members were of the view that these dimensions should be carried forward into the 2022-23 Budget too, signalling use of the extra revenue in the form of capital expenditure and human capital expenditure, since Covid has led to a human capital deficit. It added that there should also be a clear roadmap for privatisation and the growth orientation of last year's Budget should also be maintained.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17432.60, down by 332.20 points or 1.87% after trading in a range of 17429.95 and 17805.25. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 3.28%, Asian Paints up by 1.63%, Britannia Inds up by 0.79%, Power Grid up by 0.34% and TCS was up by 0.28%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 5.54%, Tata Motors down by 4.83%, Reliance Industries down by 4.60%, ONGC down by 4.34% and Bajaj Finserv was down by 4.34% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 28.24 points or 0.09% to 29,774.11, Shanghai Composite gained 23.21 points or 0.65% to 3,583.58, KOSPI rose 42.23 points or 1.42% to 3,013.25 and Straits Times was up by 3.65 points or 0.11% to 3,235.99.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 113.60 points or 0.45% to 24,936.37, Jakarta Composite lost 18.21 points or 0.27% to 6,702.05 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 14.77 points or 0.08% to 17,803.54.