Indian equity benchmarks added more losses in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in deep red. Negative cues from other Asian markets impacted domestic sentiments. Traders remained cautious, as an assessment made by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revealed that the devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in April-May is estimated to have cost the nation Rs 2 lakh crore in terms of output. It said the second wave's toll is mainly in terms of the hit to domestic demand on account of regional and specific containment rather than a nation-wide lockdown.
Traders took note of annual data from Switzerland's central bank showed that funds parked by Indian individuals and firms in Swiss banks, including through India-based branches and other financial institutions, jumped to 2.55 billion Swiss francs (over Rs 20,700 crore) in 2020 on a sharp surge in holdings via securities and similar instruments, though customer deposits fell.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after overall consumer prices in Japan were down 0.1 percent on year in May, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday - following the 0.4 percent contraction in April. On a monthly basis, inflation was up 0.3 percent after sinking 0.4 percent in the previous month. Individually, prices were higher annually for housing, furniture, clothing, education and recreation; they were lower for food, fuel, medical care and communications.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51931.59, down by 391.74 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 51601.11 and 52586.41. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.68%, while Small cap index was down by 1.87%.
The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 3.33%, Power down by 3.21%, Utilities down by 3.16%, PSU down by 2.74% and Basic Materials down by 2.31%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 1.33%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.16%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.30%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.22% and Infosys up by 0.21%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 3.27%, SBI down by 3.22%, ONGC down by 3.20%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.45% and NTPC down by 2.43% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Power and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh has said for implementation of the Roadmap on Energy Efficiency and low carbon technologies, a committee will be set up having members from all relevant Ministries. He said a concerted push for renewables is already underway and a detailed action plan will be developed to identify potential areas.
Singh said that a committee/group will be set up having members from all relevant Ministries for implementation of the Roadmap on Energy Efficiency and low carbon technologies. He directed to keep focus on sectors with highest emissions intensity such as Transport, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Power plants. He also discussed the activities defined under the Mission document ‘ROSHANEE’ which has been developed for implementing a series of Energy Conservation schemes across the country.
The minister advised the Ministries to take appropriate measures on the demand-side initiatives to ensure that the wastage of energy is minimized and said that the deployment of low carbon technologies need to be taken up on a massive scale, especially in the MSMEs, where it is highly essential. He instructed all the departments that Electric Mobility also should be more aggressively pushed. He stressed that for better implementation of all energy efficiency schemes, the institutional mechanism in Bureau of Energy Efficiency, CPSU under Ministry of Power would be strengthened.
Mission ROSHANEE envisages various activities in the field of energy efficiency across all the sectors of the economy with the objective of reducing CO2 emissions by more than 550 million tonnes in the country by 2030 whereas UNNATEE is a working document, having short term and long-term action plans for lowering energy intensity.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15559.20, down by 132.20 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 15450.90 and 15761.50. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.12%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.43%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.13%, Eicher Motors up by 0.90% and Divi's Lab up by 0.60%. On the flip side, UPL down by 4.66%, JSW Steel down by 4.05%, Tata Steel down by 3.48%, Coal India down by 3.35% and Power Grid down by 3.27% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite lost 110.43 points or 1.82% to 5,958.02, Taiwan Weighted dropped 44.67 points or 0.26% to 17,345.94, Shanghai Composite declined 17.31 points or 0.49% to 3,508.29, Nikkei 225 slipped 16.82 points or 0.06% to 29,001.51 and Straits Times trembled 8.07 points or 0.26% to 3,130.24. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 4.25 points or 0.13% to 3,269.21 and Hang Seng increased 169.55 points or 0.59% to 28,728.14.