Markets suffer with deep cuts in late afternoon session

Indian benchmarks suffered with deep cuts in late afternoon session owing to selling pressure in frontline blue-chip counters. There were no gaining sectoral indices on BSE. Hectic selling was witnessed in IT, Metal and Banking sector stocks. The overall market breadth was negative as 1882 shares were declining and 1546 were advancing, while 158 shares were unchanged on the BSE. Traders remained worried after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that a slight delay is expected in the onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala and it is likely to arrive by June 4. The southwest monsoon normally sets in over Kerala on June 1, with a standard deviation of about 7 days. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed amid concerns about China's uneven economic recovery and little progress in U.S. debt ceiling talks. European markets were trading mostly in green as upbeat corporate earnings updates outweighed lingering worries over the U.S. debt ceiling and the potential for a catastrophic debt default.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61421.07, down by 511.40 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 61340.10 and 61979.94. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.43%, while Small cap index was up by 0.03%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 1.40%, Utilities down by 1.13%, Power down by 1.08%, Bankex down by 1.01% and TECK was down by 1.01%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 1.00%, ITC up by 0.42%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.16%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.13% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.04%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.31%, Asian Paints down by 1.68%, HCL Tech down by 1.60%, TCS down by 1.50% and Infosys down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal has emphasized that India’s 10x plus growth potential in the next 25 years which would reinforce its position as the fastest growing large economy, focus on 4Ts of Trade, Technology, Tourism and Talent, its ambitious mission for sustainability and renewable energy which is evidenced by its performance of achieving Paris targets in 2021 itself - 9 years ahead of schedule, etc.

The minister also under scored that there must be a level playing field for both the developed and emerging economies while addressing the global challenges such as climate issues. He said while India is committed to achieve its targets of net zero emissions, there should be meaningful contribution by all concerned and that commitments made under the Paris agreement must be adhered to by all countries.

Besides, Goyal also expressed hope that that the mechanism of India EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) could emerge as an effective platform for finding solutions to these challenges. The Minister also noted that Indian and EU share several common concerns with respect to WTO issues where their positions are largely aligned and therefore, through their collective efforts, could jointly contribute to find consensus-based solutions in the upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18142.20, down by 144.30 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 18115.35 and 18309.00. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 1.27%, BPCL up by 1.15%, Indusind Bank up by 1.01%, Coal India up by 0.60% and ITC up by 0.39%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.43%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.65%, HCL Tech down by 1.65%, Asian Paints down by 1.57% and TCS down by 1.49% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 417.68 points or 2.14% to 19,560.57, Straits Times fell 39.54 points or 1.25% to 3,174.50, Shanghai Composite weakened 6.76 points or 0.21% to 3,284.23 and Jakarta Composite was down by 0.93 points or 0.01% to 6,675.63. On the flip side, KOSPI increased 14.42 points or 0.58% to 2,494.66, Nikkei 225 surged 250.6 points or 0.83% to 30,093.59 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 251.39 points or 1.58% to 15,925.29.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 3.45 points or 0.04% to 7,754.53 and Germany’s DAX was up by 57.27 points or 0.36% to 15,955.20. On the flip side, France’s CAC was down by 6.29 points or 0.09% to 7,399.72.