The benchmark indices further extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade. The Nifty slipped below 15,800 level. Auto stocks tumbled for the third consecutive day.
At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 254.25 points or 0.48% at 52,800.51. The Nifty 50 index lost 81.70 points or 0.51% at 15,797.95.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.12% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.32%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,691 shares rose and 1,360 shares fell. A total of 152 shares were unchanged.
The IT major TCS was down 0.57% ahead of its first quarter results today.
Economy:
Fitch Ratings, on Wednesday, 7 July 2021, cut India's growth forecast to 10% for the current fiscal, from 12.8% estimated earlier, due to slowing recovery post second wave of COVID-19, and said rapid vaccination could support a sustainable revival in business and consumer confidence.
In a report, the global rating agency said the challenges for banking sector posed by the coronavirus pandemic have increased due to a virulent second wave in the first quarter of the financial year ending March 2022 (FY22). "Fitch Ratings revised down India's real GDP for FY22 by 280 bp to 10%, underlining our belief that renewed restrictions have slowed recovery efforts and left banks with a moderately worse outlook for business and revenue generation in FY22," it said.
Politics:
Forty three ministers were sworn in to the Union Council of Ministers on Wednesday (7 July 2021) as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted many new faces. They include 15 Cabinet Ministers and 28 Ministers of State.
BJP leaders Narayan Rane, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal, Dr Virendra Kumar, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Bhupendra Yadav and R C P Singh of JD(U) and Pashupati Kumar Paras of LJP were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers. Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, Kiren Rijiju, Raj Kumar Singh, G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala and Anurag Thakur were also elevated to the rank of Cabinet Ministers.
BJP MPs Pankaj Chaudhury, S P Singh Baghel, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Sobha Karandlaje, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Meenakshi Lekhi, Annapurna Devi, A Narayanaswamy and Kaushal Kishore, Ajay Bhatt, B L Verma, Ajay Kumar, Chauhan Devusinh and Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal were sworn in as the Ministers of State. Besides, BJP leaders Kapil Patil, Subhash Sarkar, Bharati Pawar, Bishweswar Tudu, Shantanu Thakur, John Barala, L Murugan and Nisith Pramanik and others also took oath as Ministers of State.
This is the first Cabinet expansion of the Narendra Modi government in the second tenure.
Coronavirus Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 18,50,78,386 with 40,01,782 deaths. India reported 4,60,704 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 4,05,028 deaths while 2,98,43,825 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
India on Thursday reported 45,892 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to data from the health ministry. Thursday is the 30th consecutive day when India reported less than one lakh new coronavirus cases. The active cases have now come down below 5 lakh.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 3.74% to 12.67. The Nifty 29 July 2021 futures were trading at 15,802, at a premium of 4.05 points as compared with the spot at 15,797.95.
The Nifty option chain for 29 July 2021 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 29.3 lakh contracts at the 16,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 33.6 lakh contracts was seen at 15,500 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Auto index fell 0.69% to 10,479.65. The index skid 2.48% in the past three sessions.
Tata Motors (down 1.86%), Bosch (down 1.14%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.73%), Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) (down 0.43%) and TVS Motor Company (down 0.39%) were major losers.
Stocks in Spotlight:
K P R Mill rallied 5.42% after the company said that its board will consider a stock split and Q1 results on Tuesday, 27 July 2021.
HDFC rose 0.38%. On Wednesday, the housing finance major said that it has sold 32,53,517 shares, or 2.46% of its stake in Hindustan Oil Exploration Company (HOECL) for Rs 37.19 crore. Post transaction, HDFC has decreased its stake in HOECL to 8.75% stake from 11.21% held earlier. The shares were sold in the secondary market through stock exchanges between 19 September 2017 and 7 July 2021 (including these dates) at the prevailing market price, it added.
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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