Bourses turn red as profit booking emerge in late trade

The Indian equity benchmarks trimmed all of their gains to enter into negative terrain in late trade as traders opted to book profit at higher levels. Broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index too were trading below their natural line. Earlier, markets traded with traction for most part of the day as some support came with report that India’s service sector activity expanded in the month of May at strongest rate in over 11 years even after input cost inflation climbs to new record. The upturn was supported by a substantial pick-up in new business growth as demand continued to recover following the reopening of the economy after COVID-19 lockdowns. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green amid easing COVID-19 restrictions in China and bets that the Fed might slow its current aggressive pace of rate hikes over the coming months. European markets were trading mostly in green cheered by the overnight's rally on Wall Street.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55789.54, down by 28.57 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 55781.84 and 56432.65. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.35%, while Small cap index was down by 1.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.34%, TECK up by 1.16%, Energy up by 0.95%, Oil & Gas up by 0.49% and Capital Goods was up by 0.42%, while Basic Materials down by 1.74%, Power down by 1.46%, Utilities down by 1.32%, Auto down by 1.09% and Metal was down by 0.84% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.77%, Infosys up by 2.26%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.70%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.59% and Wipro up by 1.29%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 5.71%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.05%, NTPC down by 1.79%, Axis Bank down by 1.08% and Indusind Bank down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s service sector activity expanded in the month of May at strongest rate in over 11 years even after input cost inflation climbs to new record. The upturn was supported by a substantial pick-up in new business growth as demand continued to recover following the reopening of the economy after COVID-19 lockdowns.

As per the survey report, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index surged to 58.9 in May from 57.9 in April. Further, the S&P Global India Composite PMI Output Index -- which measures both manufacturing and services -- also improved to 58.3 in May from 57.6 in April.

On the inflation front, the rate of inflation climbed to the highest in 16-and-a-half years of data collection. Services companies continued to transfer rising cost burdens through to customers via upward adjustments to selling prices. Little-changed from April, the overall rate of charge inflation was the second-highest in close to five years.

The report further noted that despite remaining optimistic towards the 12-month outlook for business activity, firms remained concerned that inflationary pressures would dampen the economic recovery. The overall level of positive sentiment improved from April, but remained historically low.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16582.35, down by 45.65 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 16567.90 and 16793.85. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.70%, Infosys up by 2.12%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.73%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.61% and TCS up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 6.11%, Ultratech Cement down by 5.61%, Shree Cement down by 4.55%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.98% and Cipla down by 1.84% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 347.69 points or 1.27% to 27,761.57, Jakarta Composite soared 34.24 points or 0.48% to 7,182.96, Shanghai Composite gained 13.30 points or 0.42% to 3,195.46, KOSPI rose 11.66 points or 0.44% to 2,670.65 and Straits Times was up by 1.90 points or 0.06% to 3,228.62. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dropped 122.52 points or 0.73% to 16,552.57 and Hang Seng was down by 212.81 points or 1% to 21,082.13.

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC increased 18.64 points or 0.29% to 6,519.08 and Germany’s DAX was up by 43.28 points or 0.3% to 14,528.45. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 74.71 points or 0.98% to 7,532.95.