Sensex falls 182 points, Nifty at 15,689; realty and metal stocks rally

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In a volatile session, Indian equity indices ended with negative bias in line with Asian peers on Friday as a rapidly spreading Delta variant of Covid-19 in the region fanned fears of a stalled growth. At close, the Sensex lost 182 points or 0.35% at 52,386 while the Nifty 50 settled at 15,689 down 38 points or 0.24%.

“The domestic market continued to be under the grip of bears following weak Asian peers as investor confidence was shattered due to the global spread of Delta virus variant. The equity market is turning risk-averse and side-lined. The IT sector also turned bearish as the initial earnings results did not meet the expectations of the market. While the focus of domestic investors has shifted from secondary to attractive primary IPOs, affecting the liquidity of trading in the equity market which we believe to be short-term,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Gainers & losers

Sectoral strand

On the sectoral front, the Nifty Realty index was the top gainer rallying 2.38% as CLSA sees top developers doubling their sales in the next three to four years. The Nifty Metal index was also shining bright with gains of almost 2% after the People’s Bank of China cut the reserve ratio by 0.5% percentage point. Nifty Pharma advanced 0.64% and the Nifty FMCG index ended marginally up 0.01%. On the other hand Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto & Nifty IT indices declined in the range of 0.30-0.60%. The volatility gauge rose 4.55% to 12.94.

Broader market

The party continues in the broader markets as the BSE MidCap advanced 0.61% to 22,813 levels. While BSE SmallCap index settled at 25,874 gaining 0.39%. The market breadth after staying weak in early trades turned in the favour of bulls during noon trade as 1,077 shares advanced compared to 838 stocks declining and 346 scrips remained unchanged.

Economy

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of allowing the Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) to use the Rs 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund which has been announced as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Package. Addressing the media in New Delhi, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said now APMCs will be eligible to get the benefits of this fund to improve their infrastructure. He said APMCs will be further strengthened and mandis will not be abolished.

Global markets

European shares were trading higher while most Asian stocks declined on Friday, 9 July 2021. China’s consumer price index for June rose 1.1% as compared with a year ago, data from the country’s National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday. The producer price index for June 2021 rose 8.8% as compared with a year ago. The June 2021 PPI reading was a slight decrease in pace from the 9% increase in May 2021.

Olympics organizers will ban spectators from the upcoming summer games in Tokyo after a state of emergency for the city was declared by Japan on Thursday as the country sees rising COVID-19 cases. The state of emergency will last till August 22.

South Korea announced Friday that the greater Seoul area will be placed under the toughest social distancing rules of Level 4, as per reports. The city of Sydney earlier this week announced that COVID-19 restrictions would be extended by another week.

Wall Street lost ground on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq pulling back from record closing highs in a broad sell-off driven by uncertainties surrounding the pace of the U.S. economic recovery.