Indian markets witness bloodbath in early deals; Sensex plunges over 1,000 points

Indian equity benchmarks extended their previous session’s losses with gap-down opening on Thursday as investors are closely tracking the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data for March and crucial retail inflation (CPI) reading for April, to be released later in the day for more cues. Markets are trading deeply in red with cut of around 1.80% each in early deals due to selling in all the sector indices led by Realty, Power and Utilities. Traders were concerned with private report that tightening of policy rates by major central banks, including the RBI, would adversely impact demand in the next 6-8 months and slow down the recovery process. Adding more pessimism, a private report lowered its forecasts for India's economic growth in the next two fiscal years, saying a global slowdown, surging oil prices and weak domestic demand would take a toll on Asia's third-largest economy. Besides, as per provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net sold shares worth Rs 3,609.35 crore.

Lackluster global sentiments continue to dent the domestic markets, with most of the Asian markets are trading lower following the continued sell-off on Wall Street, as traders remained wary about faster interest rate hikes after US data showed higher-than-expected core inflation. Traders also remain cautious amid concerns about economic slowdown and persistently rising inflation. Back home, Venus Pipes & Tubes Rs 165 crore IPO received strong response. The IPO was subscribed 2.36 times at the end of Day 1 of the offer period. In scrip specific development, MRPL gained as it reported an over 11-fold jump in Q4 net profit at Rs 3,008.18 crore for the quarter ended March 2022 when compared with Rs 267.51 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 53078.78, down by 1009.61 points or 1.87% after trading in a range of 53047.75 and 53632.55. All the 30 stocks were declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 2.09%, while Small cap index was down by 2.09%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 2.60%, Power down by 2.49%, Utilities down by 2.41%, Telecom down by 2.40%, Auto down by 2.33%, while there was no gainers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top losers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank down by 3.23%, Bajaj Finance down by 3.22%, Ultratech Cement down by 3.04%, Titan Company down by 2.68% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.68%, while there was no gainer on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the British government said that the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between India and the UK have resulted in the draft treaty text advancing across the majority of chapters at the end of the third round of talks. The Department for International Trade (DIT) issued a ‘joint outcome statement’ at the end of the latest round of technical talks between the negotiators on both sides.

The experts held 60 separate sessions in-person and virtually to cover 23 policy areas, with the fourth round of talks now scheduled to be hosted by the UK next month. On May 06, 2022, the Republic of India and the United Kingdom concluded the third round of talks for an India-UK FTA. For this round of negotiations, the draft treaty text was advanced across the majority of chapters.

Indian High Commissioner to the UK Gaitri Issar Kumar has said officials have been working round-the-clock towards the deadline and Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal is also scheduled for a UK visit at the end of this month to hold discussions with stakeholders to move things along.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15875.30, down by 291.80 points or 1.80% after trading in a range of 15848.10 and 16041.95. There were 1 stock advancing against 49 stocks declining on the index.

The sole gainer on Nifty was ONGC up by 0.73%, while Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.20%, Bajaj Finance down by 3.14%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.12%, Tata Motors down by 3.08% and Indusind Bank down by 3.06% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 281.14 points or 1.07% to 25,932.50, Straits Times fell 23.19 points or 0.72% to 3,202.88, Hang Seng declined 202.99 points or 1.02% to 19,621.58, Taiwan Weighted lost 203.18 points or 1.27% to 15,803.07, KOSPI dropped 14.23 points or 0.55% to 2,578.04 and Jakarta Composite plunged 136.37 points or 2.00% to 6,679.83, while Shanghai Composite was up by 5.08 points or 0.17% to 3,063.78.