The Indian equity benchmarks were trading near neutral line with a negative bias in late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling up positions in FMCG, Capital Goods and Consumer Durables sectors while selling was witnessed in Metal, Realty and Utilities sectors’ stocks. Traders remain concerned even after RBI data showed that country's foreign exchange reserves surged to $576.98 billion as on March 31, 2021 from $544.69 billion at September-end last year. Foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves, increased to $536.693 billion as at March-end 2021 from $502.162 billion. Meanwhile, with a view to enabling a stable and orderly evolution of the yield curve, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to conduct the second tranche of Open Market Purchase of Government of India Securities under G-sec Acquisition Programme (G-SAP 1.0) on May 20. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as comments from Federal Reserve officials helped ease inflation fears. European markets were trading higher helped by the rebound on Wall Street as Federal Reserve officials managed to ease investor jitters over growing inflationary pressures.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 48671.29, down by 19.51 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 48473.43 and 48898.93. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.88%, while Small cap index was down by 0.98%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.89%, Capital Goods up by 0.70%, Consumer Durables up by 0.48% and Consumer Discretionary was up by 0.10%, while Metal down by 3.45%, Realty down by 3.05%, Utilities down by 1.98%, PSU down by 1.87% and Auto was down by 1.73% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 8.40%, ITC up by 4.35%, Nestle up by 2.01%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.97% and Power Grid up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.41%, Indusind Bank down by 2.26%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.12%, ONGC down by 1.91% and Sun Pharma down by 1.76% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, in order to survive the second wave of COVID-19, the automotive dealers' body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) has sought fiscal support, including an extension of GST payment for the next three months.
The industry body has urged the RBI to provide guidelines to banks and NBFCs to give a moratorium equivalent to the number of days of lockdown each state has declared for the payment of instalments of term loans, short term loans, corporate loans, inventory funding, scrutinised loans, and cash credit lines, among others.In its recommendations list, FADA also sought a moratorium extension on EMI payments for people who have bought vehicles. The body has also suggested the RBI to reduce interest rates on all loans by 400 basis points for 90 days.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14668.15, down by 28.35 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 14591.90 and 14749.65. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 9.62%, Asian Paints up by 8.61%, ITC up by 4.45%, Nestle up by 2.06% and Hindustan Unilever up by 2.03%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 4.10%, Hindalco down by 3.99%, Grasim Industries down by 3.69%, Tata Steel down by 3.43% and Tata Motors down by 3.14% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 636.46 points or 2.32% to 28,084.47, Hang Seng increased 308.90 points or 1.11% to 28,027.57, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 156.99 points or 1% to 15,827.09, Shanghai Composite gained 60.84 points or 1.77% to 3,490.38 and KOSPI was up by 31.21 points or 1% to 3,153.32. On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 64.98 points or 2.08% to 3,058.28.
European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 54.15 points or 0.78% to 7,017.48, France’s CAC increased 34.17 points or 0.54% to 6,322.50 and Germany’s DAX was up by 55.12 points or 0.36% to 15,254.80.