Indian equity markets made negative start and are trading with losses of over half percent in early deals on Monday on rising Covid-19 cases in India. India reported 103,793 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day spike of the year, pushing the overall tally to 12,587,920, according to Worldometer. The death toll from the deadly infection jumped to 165,132. The Maharashtra government has decided to impose complete lockdown on weekends and a night curfew in the state to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. The curbs will come into effect from Monday night. They were announced as Mumbai recorded over 11,000 Covid cases. The state recorded over 57,000 cases on Sunday - the highest so far. Malls and multiplexes will remain shut and all private offices, except those engaged in finance, insurance, banks, telecommunications, and essential services, will have to work from home. Attendance in government offices will be capped at 50 per cent. Sentiments also remained dampened as the country’s foreign exchange reserves declined by USD 2.986 billion to reach USD 579.285 billion in the week ended March 26. On the sectoral front, IT, TECK, Metal, Power and Basic Materials witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while Bankex, Realty, Oil & Gas, PSU and Auto remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after Wall Street hit a record high on Thursday on optimism the spread of coronavirus vaccines might allow global business to return to normal. Markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong are closed for holidays. Back home, banking stocks were keep buzzing as bank credit to medium-sized firms rose 21 per cent YoY in February even as a contraction (-1.5 per cent) in loans to large industrial units dragged credit disbursement to industry. In January this year, loans to large units were in the contraction zone (-2.5 per cent), while for mid-sized entities it was 19.1 per cent. In scrip specific development, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) hit an over two-year high of Rs 88.40 on the BSE, after the company recorded its best-ever quarterly performance both in terms of production and sales during the January-March quarter (Q4FY21).
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49640.82, down by 389.01 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 49545.93 and 50028.67. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.30%, while Small cap index down by 0.20%.
The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.78%, TECK up by 1.48%, Metal up by 0.63%, Power up by 0.62%, Basic Materials up by 0.52% while, Bankex down by 2.02%, Realty down by 1.47%, Oil & Gas down by 1.21%, PSU down by 1.16%, Auto down by 0.88% were the losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.47%, HCL up by 1.98%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.18%, TCS up by 1.01% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.56%, Indusind Bank down by 3.28%, Axis Bank down by 2.65%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.33% and Bajaj Auto down by 2.28% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, ratings agency Ind-Ra has said further surge in global commodity prices will have serious implications for India's economy which is still struggling to come out of the Covid-19 impact. It stated a higher retail inflation not accompanied by a commensurate increase in wage growth will adversely impact the consumption demand and in turn investment revival in the economy.
It mentioned though a spike in global agricultural commodity prices could benefit India, it may not move the needle favourably because India, despite the world's biggest exporter of Basmati rice, exported just $6.59 billion worth of cereals and imported vegetable oil and pulses worth $9.66 billion and $1.44 billion, respectively, in FY20. On the other hand, India's import bill on oil, coal and nonferrous metals was $129.86 billion, $22.45 billion and $13.14 billion, respectively.
According to the agency, a faster-than-expected recovery in demand, the stimulus measures announced by the US, the roll out of Covid-19 vaccine and ultra-low interest rates are fuelling the surge in commodity prices. Consequently, energy commodity prices over the past six months have increased by 55.4 per cent, the increase in non-energy commodity prices is 19.3 per cent. Among the major non-energy subgroups, agricultural commodities rose by 16 per cent, fertilisers 30.2 per cent and metals and minerals by 25.1 per cent.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14778.95, down by 88.40 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 14736.60 and 14849.85. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 2.69%, Wipro up by 2.17%, JSW Steel up by 2.13%, HCL up by 1.98% and Britannia Inds up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.62%, Indusind Bank down by 3.39%, Axis Bank down by 2.64%, SBI down by 2.33% and ICICI Bank down by 2.22% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 266.71 points or 0.89% to 30,120.71 and Straits Times gained 26.69 points or 0.84% to 3,208.37, while Jakarta Composite fell 26.78 points or 0.45% to 5,984.68, KOSPI lost 1.31 points or 0.04% to 3,111.49.