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Markets under pressure in afternoon deals
Oct-22-2020

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in afternoon session, with Sensex and Nifty trading below at 40,600 and 11,950 levels, respectively. Sentiments were dented with private report that the Indian economy will suffer its deepest contraction on record this fiscal year and recent government stimulus does not go far enough to significantly boost activity depressed by the coronavirus pandemic. With over 7.6 million coronavirus infections, India is the second worst hit country in the world after the United States and the spread shows no signs of abating. Adding pessimism, a private report stated that the government expects the fiscal deficit to be close to 7 percent of GDP or thereabouts in the current financial year. The general deficit is unlikely to be lower than 11 percent, with the state government borrowings estimated at 4 percent levels. Stocks from healthcare, energy and banking counters were trading lower, while telecom, metal and capital goods counters were supporting the markets.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower amid impasse in US fiscal stimulus package to cushion the economy from the coronavirus-induced slump, as a deadline to reach the deal came closer. Back on street, in scrip specific developments, Sagar cements surged on reporting 10-fold jump in Q2 consolidated net profit and Happiest Minds Technologies gained on partnering with Lakeside Software

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40585.14, down by 122.17 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 40413.65 and 40721.57. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.60%, Metal up by 1.36%, Capital Goods up by 0.91%, Industrials up by 0.83% and Oil & Gas was up by 0.60%, while Healthcare down by 0.85%, Energy down by 0.51%, Bankex down by 0.43%, IT down by 0.38% and Auto was down by 0.38% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.07%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.93%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.49%, ONGC up by 1.33% and Larsen & Toubro was up by 1.25%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.85%, Nestle down by 1.22%, Asian Paints down by 1.09%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.09% and Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said that India's contribution will be critical to fighting coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic, especially when it comes to making vaccines for the whole world. He also assured that the government has accorded top-most priority to research and manufacturing to ensure that the vaccine reaches the last person.

The minister said that the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration is working on all aspects, besides designing innovative approaches to distribute vaccines in rural and remote regions. He also said the present research agenda for covid-19 has been to provide an affordable vaccine as well as to ensure its equitable distribution. He noted that at present, three Indian pharma companies in partnership with foreign or domestic research institutes are expediting the trials of vaccine. He pointed out that the biggest benefit that India has is that it has a robust immunization program in place and it is also implementing the largest immunization program of the world, with nearly 27 million newborns targeted annually.

Vardhan further said ‘we have an established infrastructure for supply, storage and delivery of vaccines to the last mile under our Universal Immunization Program as part of which we are administering around 600 million doses to children every year. The strength of these experiences in the vaccination landscape, our best practices and the robustness of our health delivery system will be leveraged and augmented using a strong IT backbone to ensure that this humongous national mission of vaccinating the identified priority groups with COVID-19 vaccine is achieved in a timely manner’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11905.60, down by 32.05 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 11853.55 and 11939.55. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.18%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.12%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.91%, Britannia up by 1.78% and Bajaj Finance was up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.80%, Indusind Bank down by 1.77%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.52%, Nestle down by 1.30% and Cipla was down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 165.19 points or 0.7% to 23,474.27, Straits Times trembled 1.27 points or 0.05% to 2,524.34, KOSPI fell 15.81 points or 0.67% to 2,355.05, Jakarta Composite lost 16.66 points or 0.33% to 5,079.79 and Shanghai Composite was down by 12.63 points or 0.38% to 3,312.39.

On the other hand; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 39.78 points or 0.31% to 12,917.03 and Hang Seng was up by 45.60 points or 0.18% to 24,800.02.
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