Benchmarks trade lower in early deals amid rising cases of new Coronavirus variant

Indian equity benchmarks extended their previous session losses with negative start on Tuesday amid rising cases of new Coronavirus variant. Domestic indices are trading lower in early deals with cut of around one third of a percent each due to selling in Realty, Auto and Consumer Durables counters. The state health department said Maharashtra on Monday reported two new patients infected with the new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. Weak macro-economic data also added to the pessimism on the street. the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed that the country's retail inflation rate, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose to 4.91 percent during the month of November 2021. The inflation has increased sequentially, as it was recorded at 4.48 percent in October 2021. The uptick on sequential basis was led by an increase in food prices, particularly vegetables. Now, investors are eyeing the WPI data to be out later in the day. Though, downside remained capped as estimates by Export-import Bank of India showed that India’s merchandise exports are expected to grow by 51 per cent to about $303.98 billion in nine months ending December 2021 over the same period in 2020.

Global cues remained sluggish with most of the Asian markets traded lower following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with investors largely staying cautious amid worries about rising number of cases of Omicron variant of the coronavirus and looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy on Wednesday. According to reports, the Omicron coronavirus variant has been detected in more than 60 countries so far. Back home, banking stocks were in focus as United Forum of Bank Unions alleged that public sector banks have lost nearly Rs 2.85 lakh crore on account of loan dues of 13 corporates even as the banks are used to bail out ailing financial institutions such as Yes Bank and IL&FS. In scrip specific development, Vedanta remained in limelight as the company and its related group entities have withdrawn multiple tax disputes with the Union government. Besides, Anand Rathi Wealth will make its debut on the bourses today. The issue was subscribed 9.78 times.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58071.88, down by 211.54 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 57843.67 and 58187.91. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.40%, while Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.12%, Utilities up by 0.89%, Metal up by 0.80%, Basic Materials up by 0.33%, Capital Goods up by 0.32%, while Realty down by 0.88%, Auto down by 0.81%, Consumer Durables down by 0.63%, Bankex down by 0.62%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.43% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.81%, NTPC up by 1.19%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.77%, Tata Steel up by 0.52% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.21%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.50%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.17%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.06%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.03% and HDFC down by 0.95% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an uptick in food prices, India’s retail inflation rose to a three-month high of 4.91 per cent in November 2021. The annual CPI inflation was 4.48 per cent in October 2021. Though, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation for November is lower than 6.93 per cent in November 2020 and within the 4+/-2 per cent target range of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The inflation had eased from 5.3 per cent in August to 4.35 per cent in September and then moved up to 4.48 per cent in October.

The National Statistical Office (NSO) under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in its data has showed that the Rural CPI (General) in November 2021 stood at 4.29 per cent as against 4.07 per cent in October. The Urban CPI (General) stood at 5.54 per cent in November as against 5.04 per cent in October. The index value for Rural, Urban and Combined CPI (General) stood at 167.6, 165.6 and 166.7, respectively, in November 2021.

As per the data released by the NSO, inflation in the food basket was 1.87 per cent in November compared to 0.85 per cent a month earlier. However, it was significantly down from 9.5 per cent in November 2020. Fuel and light inflation stood at 13.4 per cent in November as against 14.4 per cent a month ago, while vegetables inflation was recorded at -13.6 per cent as against -19.4 per cent a month ago. Clothing and footwear inflation was at 7.9 per cent in November compared with 7.5 per cent a month ago, while transport and communication inflation was at 10.02 per cent as against 10.9 per cent in October.

The Price data are collected from selected 1114 urban Markets and 1181 villages covering all States/UTs through personal visits by field staff of Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster. During the month of November 2021, NSO collected prices from 99.7% villages and 98.4% urban Markets while the Market-wise prices reported therein were 89.4% for rural and 92.8% for urban.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17310.00, down by 58.25 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 17242.75 and 17343.00. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 2.76%, Hindalco up by 1.13%, NTPC up by 0.95%, Cipla up by 0.83% and Tata Steel up by 0.82%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.56%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.40%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.35%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.12% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 235.18 points or 0.82% to 28,405.31, Hang Seng lost 294.83 points or 1.23% to 23,659.75, Taiwan Weighted fell 155.75 points or 0.88% to 17,611.85, KOSPI declined 22.07 points or 0.74% to 2,979.59, Jakarta Composite plunged 44.35 points or 0.67% to 6,618.52 and Shanghai Composite was down by 11.24 points or 0.31% to 3,669.84, while Straits Times was up by 3.56 points or 0.11% to 3,123.51.