The domestic equity benchmarks pared early losses in morning trade. The Nifty was trading below the 15,750 mark. Adani Group stocks crashed.
At 10:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 184.7 points or 0.35% to 52,290.06. The Nifty 50 index lost 69.40 points or 0.44% to 15,729.95.
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, surged 6.13% to 14.97.
In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.77% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.75%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1083 shares rose and 1842 shares fell. A total of 149 shares were unchanged.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 175,910,592 with 3,800,590 global deaths.
India reported 973,158 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 374,305 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Economy:
India's index of industrial production (IIP) rose by a sharp 134.44% in April 2021, as per data from the National Statistical Office which stressed that the numbers are not strictly comparable with April 2020 when the country was in the midst of a national lockdown.
April's industrial output was just 0.08% higher than the pre-pandemic levels of April 2019. The manufacturing sector recorded a 197.1% uptick this April, though it was still 0.9% lower than April 2019 levels.
Electricity output rose 38.5% in April 2021 from a year ago, and was 6.81% higher than the pre-COVID-19 levels of April 2019. Similarly, Mining output grew 37% year-on-year in April, but was only 0.2% higher than the same month in 2019.
Buzzing Segment:
Shares of Adani Group companies slumped. Adani Enterprises (down 21.18%), Adani Ports & SEZ (down 15.47%), Adani Green (down 5%), Adani Total Gas (down 5%), Adani Transmission (down 5%) and Adani Power (down 4.99%) crashed.
The media reported that National Securities Depository (NSDL) has frozen the accounts of three foreign funds that together own shares worth Rs 43,500 crore in four Adani Group companies. The accounts of Albula Investment Fund, Cresta Fund and APMS Investment Fund were frozen on or before May 31. An account freeze indicates that the funds would not be able to sell any of the existing securities or buy any new securities.
According to the media reports, the freeze on the three accounts could be because of insufficient disclosure of information regarding beneficial ownership under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Custodians usually warn clients of such action but if the fund does not respond or fails to comply then the accounts can be frozen.
Stocks in Focus:
State-run Coal India was down 1.72% ahead of Q4 results today.
DLF fell 2.73% at Rs 301.50. On a consolidated basis, the realty major posted a net profit of Rs 480.94 crore in Q4 FY21 as against net loss of Rs 1,857.76 crore in Q4 FY20. The realty major registered a 1.1% rise in net sales to Rs 1,712.57 crore in Q4 FY21 from Rs 1,694.20 crore in Q4 FY20.
DLF said demand in the residential business exhibited a strong comeback in the fiscal. New sales bookings for the fiscal stood at Rs 3,084 crore, reflecting a Y-o-Y growth of 24%. Optimized cost structures and efficient working capital management coupled with a steady ramp-up in collections led to positive cash flows in all quarters. Consequently, the company's net debt stood at Rs 4,885 crore, a reduction of Rs 382 crore.
BEML advanced 1.77% to Rs 1350.40. The company's standalone net profit dropped 14.16% to Rs 159.94 crore on 66.33% increase in net sales to Rs 1,773.81 crore in Q4 March 2021 over Q4 March 2020.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has informed that the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and NITI Aayog have concurred to the proposal of incorporation of wholly-owned subsidiary (WoS) of BEML for demerger of surplus land and asset as part of BEML's strategic divestment process undertaken by Government of India (GoI).
ABB India shed 0.53% to Rs 1642. The company's board has granted in-principle approval for divestment/sale of company's turbocharger and dodge mechanical power transmission businesses. The board's decision to review India businesses for potential divestment is in line with ABB Group's already announced ongoing systematic portfolio restructuring to strengthen competitiveness, focus on quality of revenue and higher growth segments, ABB India said in an exchange filing.
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