Bears hold grip over Dalal Street

Bears were holding a tight grip over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in deep red. Negative cues from other Asian markets impacted domestic sentiments. Traders were cautious, as India's rank improved one place to 85 among 180 countries in a corruption perception index (CPI) of 2021, according to a new report by Transparency International which, however, raised concern over the country's democratic status. Besides, amid faltering growth in the world's largest economies of the US and China due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut down the global economic growth forecast to 4.4 per cent. The IMF said that the fund expects global growth to slow down to 4.4 per cent this year from nearly 6 per cent in 2021.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, after manufacturing business conditions in South Korea deteriorated in January, the Bank of Korea said on Thursday as its Business Survey Index fell to a score of 90 in January from 95 in December. The outlook also came in at 90, down from 92 a month earlier. In the non-manufacturing sector, the BSI on business conditions for January was 83, up 1 point from the previous month, while the outlook for the following month also rose by 4 points to 82.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56677.65, down by 1180.50 points or 2.04% after trading in a range of 56628.36 and 57317.38. There were 1 stock advancing against 28 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 2.12%, while Small cap index was down by 1.18%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables down by 3.35%, Realty down by 3.18%, IT down by 2.87%, TECK down by 2.55% and Healthcare down by 2.34%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 0.84% and NTPC up by 0.00%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 4.25%, Titan Co down by 4.03%, Wipro down by 3.57%, HDFC Bank down by 3.11% and Tech Mahindra down by 2.96% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India has initiated an anti-dumping probe against imports of a certain type of tiles, used for covering the floors in residential and commercial buildings, from China, Taiwan and Vietnam following a complaint by domestic players.

The commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) is probing the alleged dumping of ‘Vinyl Tiles other than in roll or sheet form’. Welspun India, Welspun Flooring and Welspun Global Brands had filed a petition before the directorate to impose anti-dumping duty on the imports from China, Taiwan and Vietnam. DGTR said the applicants have alleged that the dumping of the product is materially affecting the domestic industry which started commercial production in September 2019. They have submitted that the industry and the product are at a nascent stage.

The directorate said ‘on the basis of the duly substantiated written application by or on behalf of the domestic industry, and having satisfied itself, on the basis of the prima facie evidence submitted by the industry about the dumping...the authority hereby initiates an investigation’. If it is established that the dumping has caused material injury to the domestic players, the DGTR would recommend the imposition of anti-dumping duty on these imports. The finance ministry takes the final decision to impose the duties.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16933.90, down by 344.05 points or 1.99% after trading in a range of 16918.55 and 17073.15. There were 4 stocks advancing against 46 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 0.92%, Axis Bank up by 0.84%, ONGC up by 0.70% and Indian Oil Corp. up by 0.33%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 4.16%, Titan Co down by 3.90%, Eicher Motors down by 3.85%, Wipro down by 3.59% and HDFC Bank down by 3.20% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 625.10 points or 2.57% to 23,664.80, Jakarta Composite lost 12.01 points or 0.18% to 6,588.81, KOSPI fell 78.10 points or 2.88% to 2,631.14, Straits Times trembled 19.06 points or 0.58% to 3,252.51, Shanghai Composite declined 30.39 points or 0.88% to 3,425.28 and Nikkei 225 slipped 864.78 points or 3.2% to 26,146.55.