Equities settle marginally high; Tata Steel top gainer
Mumbai Equity benchmark Sensex staged a smart recovery from the day's low to end with marginal losses on Monday, propped up by robust buying in FMCG and telecom counters.
Reliance Industries and banking stocks accounted for most of the losses, while a rebounding rupee also provided support, traders said. After plunging over 750 points in early trade, the 30-share BSE index made a U-turn to finish 63.84 points or 0.13 per cent lower at 48,718.52. In similar movement, the broader NSE Nifty closed 3.05 points or 0.02 per cent higher at 14,634.15. Titan was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding 4.58 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, ITC, SBI, ONGC and ICICI Bank. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, HUL, Maruti, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, NTPC and Nestle India were among the gainers, climbing up to 3.98 per cent. "Domestic equities recovered sharply from day's low despite weak global cues. While growing uncertainties about collection efficiency and asset quality of banks/NBFCs dragged heavy weight financials, strong buying in FMCG and Metals supported recovery in markets," said Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities.
While persistent rise in second wave of Covid-19 cases has weighed on investors' sentiments, steady corporate earnings with positive managements' commentaries offered support to markets, he noted. On the macroeconomic front, India's manufacturing sector activity was largely flat in April, as rates of growth for new orders and output eased to eight-month lows amid the intensification of the Covid-19 crisis, a monthly survey showed on Monday.
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was at 55.5 in April, little changed from March's reading of 55.4. Sectorally, BSE consumer durables, energy, bankex, oil and gas, realty and finance indices fell up to 1.99 per cent, while telecom, metal, FMCG, industrials and basic materials closed in the green. Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices outperformed the benchmark, spurting as much as 1.57 per cent. The daily Covid-19 cases in India showed a slight dip with 3,68,147 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, taking the total tally of cases to 1,99,25,604, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll increased to 2,18,959 with 3,417 daily new fatalities. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong and Seoul ended on a negative note. Stock exchanges in Shanghai and Tokyo were closed for holidays. European markets were largely trading with losses in mid-session deals. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.63 per cent lower at $66.34 per barrel.
