Weak trade continued over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading lower with notable losses. Negative cues from other Asian markets impacted domestic sentiments. Traders got worried, after India's manufacturing sector activity was largely flat in April, as rates of growth for new orders and output eased to eight-month lows amid the intensification of the COVID-19 crisis. The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was at 55.5 in April, little changed from March's reading of 55.4. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank has decided to review and strengthen the Risk Based Supervision (RBS) of the banking sector with a view to enable financial sector players to address the emerging challenges.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after the manufacturing sector in South Korea continued to expand in April, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Markit Economics revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 54.6. That's down from 55.3 in March although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 48343.27, down by 439.09 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 48028.07 and 48613.29. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.22%, while Small cap index was up by 1.10%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.11%, Power up by 0.96%, Utilities up by 0.51%, Basic Materials up by 0.50% and Industrials up by 0.50%, while Energy down by 1.69%, Consumer Durables down by 1.59%, Bankex down by 1.49%, Realty down by 1.26% and Oil & Gas down by 1.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.88%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.86%, Nestle up by 1.32%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.63% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.45%. On the flip side, Titan Co down by 3.88%, Reliance Industries down by 2.43%, Axis Bank down by 2.15%, ONGC down by 2.03% and SBI down by 1.97% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, with uptick in production of natural gas, steel, cement and electricity, the output of eight core sectors grew by 6.8% in March 2021. The growth rate of the eight infrastructure sectors had stood at (-) 8.6% in March 2020. Its cumulative growth during April to March, 2020-21 has been (-) 7.0%. Final growth rate of Index of Eight Core Industries for December 2020 is revised to 0.4% from its provisional level (-) 1.3%. The Eight Core Industries- coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity - comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
Among eight core sectors, the Natural Gas production having 6.88% weight increased by 12.3% in March, 2021 over March, 2020 and its cumulative index declined by 8.2% during April to March, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year. Steel production having 17.92% weight increased by 23.0% in March, 2021 over March, 2020 and its cumulative index declined by 9.5% during April to March, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year. Cement production having 5.37 per cent weight increased by 32.5% in March, 2021 over March, 2020 and its cumulative index declined by 11.9% during April to March, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year. Electricity generation having 19.85% weight increased by 21.6% in March, 2021 over March, 2020 and its cumulative index declined by 0.6% during April to March, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year.
On the other hand, coal production having 10.33 per cent weight declined by 21.9% in March, 2021 over March, 2020 and its cumulative index declined by 4.8% during April to March, 2020-21 over corresponding period of the previous year. Crude Oil production having 8.98% weight declined by 3.1% in March, 2021 over March, 2020 and its cumulative index declined by 5.2% during April to March, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year. Petroleum Refinery production having 28.04% weight declined by 0.7% in March, 2021 over March, 2020 and its cumulative index declined by 11.2% during April to March, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizers production having 2.63% weight declined by 5.0% in March, 2021 over March, 2020 and its cumulative index increased by 1.8% during April to March, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14532.60, down by 98.50 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 14416.25 and 14594.40. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.51%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.94%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.08%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.86% and Nestle up by 1.37%. On the flip side, Titan Co down by 3.87%, Reliance Industries down by 2.33%, Axis Bank down by 2.20%, SBI down by 1.84% and ICICI Bank down by 1.80% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Straits Times declined 43.93 points or 1.37% to 3,174.34, Hang Seng fell 437.01 points or 1.52% to 28,287.87 and Taiwan Weighted slipped 210.95 points or 1.20% to 17,355.71. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 4.86 points or 0.15% to 3,152.72 and Jakarta Composite surged 50.47 points or 0.84% to 5,945.15.