Bourses slip into red zone in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets failed to hold their gains in late afternoon session and slipped into red zone on the back of weakness in the Energy and Oil & Gas sectors. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading lower. Traders were cautious after Fitch Ratings said the Reserve Bank is likely to raise interest rates further to 5.9 per cent by December 2022, on deteriorating inflation outlook. It said India's economy faces a worsening external environment, elevated commodity prices, and tighter global monetary policy. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after Wall Street entered the bear market on fears that aggressive rate tightening by the Federal Reserve would push the world's largest economy into recession. European markets were trading mostly in green.

Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52620.19, down by 226.51 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 52459.48 and 53095.32. 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 0.18%, while Small cap index was down by 0.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.76%, Power up by 0.69%, Realty up by 0.56%, TECK up by 0.35% and Industrials was up by 0.31%, while Energy down by 1.25%, Oil & Gas down by 1.23%, Consumer Durables down by 0.68%, FMCG down by 0.45% and Consumer discretionary was down by 0.37% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.71%, Power Grid Corp up by 1.39%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.33%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.20% and Infosys up by 1.11%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.54%, Indusind Bank down by 1.76%, HDFC down by 1.66%, Reliance Industries down by 1.46% and HDFC Bank down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation rate rose to the highest level in the current 2011-12 series at 15.88% in May 2022 as against 15.08% in April. The number has remained in double digits for the fourteenth consecutive month. The higher inflation can be attributed to a surge in vegetable prices and supply-side disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, increased by 2.80% to 179.8 (provisional) in May, 2022 from 174.9 (provisional) for the month of April, 2022. Prices of Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas, Food Articles, Minerals and Non-food Articles increased in May 2022 as compared to April 2022.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, increased by 2.25% to 154.4 (provisional) in May, 2022 from 151.0 (provisional) for the month of April, 2022. Prices of Mineral Oils increased in May, 2022 as compared to April, 2022. Besides, prices of coal and electricity remain unchanged. Besides, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, increased by 1.69% to 144 (provisional) in April 2022 from 141.6 (provisional) for the month of March 2022. Meanwhile, for the month of February 2022 the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011-12=100) stood at 145.3 and 13.43% respectively.

Moreover, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, increased by 0.56% to 144.8 (provisional) in May, 2022 from 144.0 (provisional) for the month of April, 2022. Meanwhile, for the month of March, 2022 the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011-12=100) stood at 148.9 and 14.63% respectively. Further, WPI Food Index consisting of 'Food Articles' from Primary Articles group and 'Food Product' from Manufactured Products group have increased from 172.9 in April, 2022 to 176.1 in May, 2022. The rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index increased from 8.88% in April 2022 to 10.89% in May 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15703.70, down by 70.70 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 15659.45 and 15858.00. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 1.54%, Adani Ports up by 1.36%, Power Grid up by 1.35%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.32% and Apollo Hospital up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.61%, ONGC down by 2.07%, Hindalco down by 2.02%, Indusind Bank down by 1.99% and HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.74% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 slipped 357.58 points or 1.32% to 26,629.86, Straits Times trembled 33.04 points or 1.05% to 3,106.31, Taiwan Weighted dropped 23.61 points or 0.15% to 16,047.37 and KOSPI was down by 11.54 points or 0.46% to 2,492.97. On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 0.41 points or 0% to 21,067.99, Shanghai Composite gained 33.36 points or 1.02% to 3,288.91 and Jakarta Composite was up by 54.44 points or 0.78% to 7,049.88.

European markets were trading mostly in green, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 13.24 points or 0.18% to 7,219.05, France’s CAC decreased 21.85 points or 0.36% to 6,000.47 and Germany’s DAX was up by 17.45 points or 0.13% to 13,444.48.