Weak trade continues over Dalal Street

Weak trade continued over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading on a lower note. Negative cues from other Asian markets also impacted domestic sentiments. Traders got cautious after domestic rating agency Icra Ratings revised the asset under management (AUM) growth outlook of retail non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to 5-7 per cent for the fiscal 2022 from an earlier expectation of 8-10 per cent. Adding more concerns, a private report stated that institutional investments in real estate fell 81 per cent at $670 million during the December quarter because of lower inflow in office assets.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after overall consumer prices in Japan were up 0.8 percent on year in December. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that was in line with expectations and up from 0.6 percent in November. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food prices, was up an annual 0.5 percent - unchanged but shy of forecasts for 0.6 percent. Individually, prices were up for food, housing, fuel, clothing, education and recreation; they were down for furniture, medical care and communications.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58944.84, down by 519.78 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 58683.01 and 59214.90. There were 4 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining, while 2 stocks remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.17%, while Small cap index was down by 0.80%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.53% and FMCG up by 0.11%, while Consumer Durables down by 2.30%, Telecom down by 1.99%, Metal down by 1.79%, Capital Goods down by 1.61% and PSU down by 1.49% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.95%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.43%, Power Grid up by 0.65%, HDFC up by 0.39% and NTPC up by 0.00%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 4.02%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.01%, Axis Bank down by 2.50%, Tata Steel down by 2.49% and Bharti Airtel down by 2.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Domestic rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that the recent surge in fresh Covid infections as well as subsequent localised lockdowns emanating from Omicron spread are likely to shave off around 100 bps of growth in toll collections in fiscal year 2021-22.

ICRA further said given that passenger vehicles (PV) category account for 20-25 per cent of overall traffic on toll projects, regional lockdowns imposed by state governments restricting people movement are expected to adversely impact the PV traffic as well as bus categories, as witnessed during the second wave of Covid-19. However, it said the toll collections are expected to be moderated by about 100 bps and will be supported by commercial vehicles as the manufacturing, construction activities and movement of goods are permitted.

The report further said the FastAG collections peaked at Rs 3,679 crore for December 2021, a growth of 12 per cent on a month-on-month basis as compared to November 2021. It said restricted people movement owing to the third wave of pandemic is likely to affect the toll collections in the range of 7.5 per cent and 23.5 per cent on month-on-month basis in January and February 2022, respectively and recover thereafter. It added that the recovery is expected to be quicker than what was observed during the second wave.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17601.30, down by 155.70 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 17525.35 and 17680.10. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 4.03%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.94%, Tata Consumer Products up by 1.87%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.59% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.98%, Coal India down by 3.76%, Shree Cement down by 3.32%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.94% and Divi's Lab down by 2.72% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 319.39 points or 1.75% to 17,898.89, Nikkei 225 slipped 367.92 points or 1.32% to 27,405.01, Hang Seng decreased 186.09 points or 0.75% to 24,766.26, KOSPI fell 42.06 points or 1.47% to 2,820.62, Straits Times trembled 1.42 points or 0.04% to 3,293.40 and Shanghai Composite declined 29.68 points or 0.83% to 3,525.38. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 35.87 points or 0.54% to 6,662.74.