Markets witness bloodbath in late afternoon session

Pressurized by feeble global cues, key barometer gauges witnessed bloodbath in late afternoon session. The overall market breadth was negative as 2896 shares were declining and 599 were advancing, while 128 shares were unchanged on the BSE. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading deep in red. Huge selling was witnessed in Metal, Realty and Banking sectors’ stocks. Traders took note after Governor Shaktikanta Das said Reserve Bank of India is committed to its inflation mandate and the likely uptick in January inflation towards the upper end of its target band should not create any panic. He stated ‘Today's inflation print is expected to be around 6%. So that should not surprise or create any alarm, because we have taken that into consideration’. Further, he added there's a sort of major delicate balance between inflation and growth and the Reserve Bank is fully aware of its commitment to inflation.  On the global front, all Asian markets and European markets were trading lower with Russia-Ukraine tensions and the prospect of rapidly rising interest rates keeping investors nervous.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56743.90, down by 1409.02 points or 2.42% after trading in a range of 56612.07 and 57191.91. There were 1 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 2.74%, while Small cap index was down by 3.32%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 4.41%, Realty down by 3.95%, Bankex down by 3.62%, Basic Materials down by 3.52% and Industrials was down by 3.34%, while there were no gainers on sectoral indices on the BSE.

The only gainer on the Sensex was TCS up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.89%, ITC down by 4.82%, HDFC down by 4.63%, ICICI Bank down by 4.17% and Maruti Suzuki down by 4.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) eased to 12.96% in the month of January 2022 as against 13.56% in December 2021. Although on a decline, the high rate of inflation in January 2022 is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, basic metals, chemicals and chemical products, food articles etc as compared the corresponding month of the previous year. The WPI in January 2021 was at 2.51%.

Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, declined by 1.67% to 165.0 (provisional) in January 2022 from 167.8 (provisional) for the month of December 2021. Prices of Minerals (11.08%) and Non-food Articles (0.37%) increased in January, 2022 as compared to December, 2021. Prices of Food Articles (-2.61%) and Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas (-5.11%) declined in January, 2022 as compared to December, 2021.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, increased by 3.90% to 133.2 (provisional) in January, 2022 from 128.2 (provisional) for the month of December, 2021. Prices of Electricity (15.94%) and Mineral Oils (0.83%) increased in January, 2022 as compared to December, 2021. Prices of coal remain unchanged.

Besides, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, increased by 0.51% to 137.1 (provisional) in January, 2022 from 136.4 (provisional) for the month of December, 2021.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16940.45, down by 434.30 points or 2.50% after trading in a range of 16915.95 and 17099.50. There were 1 stocks advancing against 49 stocks declining on the index.

The only gainer on Nifty was TCS up by 1.17%, while JSW Steel down by 6.46%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 5.73%, Tata Steel down by 5.21%, ITC down by 4.86% and HDFC down by 4.66% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower, Nikkei 225 slipped 616.49 points or 2.23% to 27,079.59, Hang Seng decreased 350.09 points or 1.41% to 24,556.57, Taiwan Weighted dropped 313.27 points or 1.71% to 17,997.67, Jakarta Composite lost 81.12 points or 1.19% to 6,734.49, KOSPI fell 43.23 points or 1.57% to 2,704.48, Shanghai Composite declined 34.07 points or 0.98% to 3,428.88 and Straits Times was down by 11.61 points or 0.34% to 3,417.34.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 149.84 points or 1.96% to 7,511.18, France’s CAC decreased 238.15 points or 3.4% to 6,773.45 and Germany’s DAX was down by 531.03 points or 3.44% to 14,894.09.