The Indian equity benchmarks traded deep in red in the late afternoon session, with the Sensex and the Nifty falling above 1700 and 500 points, respectively on rising Covid-19 cases. The markets remained under pressure, after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed that country’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $2.415 billion to stand at $576.869 billion in the week ended April 2. In the previous week ended March 26, the reserves had decreased by $2.986 billion to $579.285 billion. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as investors awaited the next earnings season with high hopes for strong reports and outlooks as the recovery progresses, while the head of the Federal Reserve reiterated his view the economy was improving but warned the virus still posed a risk. European markets were trading lower as investors held off from making big bets ahead of the earnings season, while British retailers were set to reopen as the economy emerges from a strict winter lockdown.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 47872.23, down by 1719.09 points or 3.47% after trading in a range of 47755.21 and 48956.65. There were 1 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 4.86%, while Small cap index was down by 4.35%.
The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 7.21%, PSU down by 5.56%, Industrials down by 5.52%, Bankex down by 5.09% and Power was down by 5.03%, while there were no gainers on sectoral indices on the BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.90%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 8.10%, Bajaj Finance down by 6.73%, SBI down by 6.68%, ONGC down by 5.59% and Axis Bank down by 5.45% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in its latest report showed that passenger vehicle wholesales declined by 2.24 per cent to 27,11,457 units in the 2020-21 fiscal as against 27,73,519 units in 2019-20.
The report further noted that total two-wheeler dispatches during the last fiscal by companies to their respective dealer partners declined by 13.19 per cent to 1,51,19,387 units, as compared to 1,74,16,432 units in 2019-20. Also, total commercial vehicles sales declined by 20.77 per cent to 5,68,559 units last financial year, as against 7,17,593 units in 2019-20.
As per the report, dispatches of three-wheelers saw a drop of 66.06 per cent in the 2020-21 fiscal at 2,16,197 units, as against 6,37,065 units in 2019-20, while vehicle sales across categories declined by 13.6 per cent to 1,86,15,588 units, as against 2,15,45,551 units in the year-ago period.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14317.55, down by 517.30 points or 3.49% after trading in a range of 14283.55 and 14652.50. There were 4 stocks advancing against 46 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 3.28%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.76%, Divis Lab up by 1.04% and Britannia up by 0.58%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 8.71%, Adani Ports down by 8.26%, Indusind Bank down by 8.10%, Bajaj Finance down by 6.60% and SBI down by 6.40% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng decreased 245.52 points or 0.86% to 28,453.28, Nikkei 225 slipped 229.33 points or 0.77% to 29,538.73, Jakarta Composite lost 121.64 points or 2% to 5,948.57, Shanghai Composite declined 37.73 points or 1.09% to 3,412.95 and Straits Times was down by 13.72 points or 0.43% to 3,170.82. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 3.71 points or 0.12% to 3,135.59 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 5.60 points or 0.03% to 16,859.70.
European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 56.98 points or 0.82% to 6,858.77, France’s CAC decreased 15.35 points or 0.25% to 6,154.06 and Germany’s DAX was down by 14.20 points or 0.09% to 15,219.96.