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Benchmarks turn negative in late afternoon session
Apr-20-2021

The Indian equity benchmarks erased all gains to turn negative in late afternoon session. Both Sensex and Nifty were trading below their crucial 48,000 and 14,500 marks, respectively. Sentiment on the street weakened, as CMIE’s data showed that Unemployment rate in urban India has been on the upswing since the beginning of the current month. From 7.21% on April 4, it jumped to 9.81% for the week ended April 11 and further to 10.72% for the week ended April 18, 2021. This reflects a shift in the burden of job losses to urban India, reversing the trend of rural India largely bearing the brunt of Covid-induced strain on employment. Meanwhile, the retailers' body Retailers Association of India (RAI) has said closure of economic activity at this juncture will lead to permanent closure of businesses and millions of job losses, amid varied localized restrictions being imposed across states in the wake of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after Wall Street was pulled lower by tech stock declines. European markets were trading lower with global markets all showing lackluster sentiment.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 47812.89, down by 136.53 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 47782.28 and 48478.34. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.95%, while Small cap index was up by 0.88%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.69%, Capital Goods up by 1.12%, Auto up by 0.90%, Telecom up by 0.81% and Metal was up by 0.80%, while IT down by 0.73%, TECK down by 0.53%, FMCG down by 0.38%, Basic Materials down by 0.19% and Bankex was down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 4.21%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.72%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.90%, Indusind Bank up by 2.76% and Bajaj Auto up by 2.24%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 3.22%, HCL Tech down by 3.15%, HDFC down by 2.72%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.44% and HDFC Bank down by 1.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, raising concerns, the retailers' body Retailers Association of India (RAI) has said closure of economic activity at this juncture will lead to permanent closure of businesses and millions of job losses, amid varied localized restrictions being imposed across states in the wake of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.Retailers Association of India further noted that the retail industry is beginning to see similar issues repeating in some form that were faced last year and underlined that non-essential or non-food retail and malls should be allowed to operate with strict surveillance.

As per RAI CEO Kumar Rajagopalan, shutting down non-essential or non-food retail and malls is not the solution. Considering the impact of last year on business, closure of economic activity at this stage will lead to permanent closure of businesses, thereby leading to millions of job losses. Instead, he added, there is an urgent need for stricter surveillance to ensure that all rules with regards to safety and hygiene and social distancing norms are being followed by one and all.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14328.45, down by 31.00 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 14317.85 and 14526.95. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 4.25%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.63%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.83%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.73% and Indusind Bank up by 2.70%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 3.18%, HCL Tech down by 2.98%, HDFC down by 2.69%, Shree Cement down by 2.20% and Grasim Industries down by 2.09% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 slipped 584.99 points or 1.97% to 29,100.38, Straits Times trembled 17.47 points or 0.54% to 3,192.25, Jakarta Composite lost 14.22 points or 0.23% to 6,038.32 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.61 points or 0.13% to 3,472.94. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 21.86 points or 0.68% to 3,220.70, Hang Seng increased 29.58 points or 0.1% to 29,135.73 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 60.59 points or 0.35% to 17,323.87.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 33.31 points or 0.48% to 6,966.77, France’s CAC decreased 45.35 points or 0.72% to 6,251.34 and Germany’s DAX was down by 27.69 points or 0.18% to 15,340.70.

 
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