The benchmark indices hit fresh intraday low in afternoon trade. At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 106.83 points or 0.18% at 58,143.43. The Nifty 50 index skid 29.45 points or 0.17% at 17,324.05.
HDFC Bank (down 0.93%), Reliance Industries (RIL) (down 0.51%) and Infosys (down 0.38%) were major drags.
The broader market were trading with minor gains. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.08%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.31%.
Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,698 shares rose and 1,372 shares fell. A total of 155 shares were unchanged.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 802.51 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 0.60 crore in the Indian equity market on 8 September 2021, provisional data showed.
The domestic stock market will remain closed tomorrow, 10 September 2021, on account of Ganesh Chaturthi.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 22,25,68,068 with 45,96,463 deaths. India reported 3,93,614 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 4,41,749 deaths while 3,23,04,618 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Economy:
S&P Economist for Asia Pacific, Vishrut Rana, speaking at the 'India Credit Spotlight 2021', said, Looking ahead we continue to expect fairly strong economic growth going into calendar Q3 and Q4.
He made this statement even as he listed out the challenges the economy is likely to face in the second half of the FY. The second wave of the pandemic has been pretty costly to economic activity. Households have been affected . households are going to be repairing their balance sheets and withholding from spending which means activity will remain below trend once the recovery gets underway, said Rana.
He added, The outlook is mixed and energy prices are likely to remain elevated but the real influential element in the inflation basket is going to be food. We have monsoon rains below normal so far which could lead to rise in food inflation. Overall inflation is likely to remain elevated and prevent the central bank from taking too much easing measures.
Given India's weak fiscal settings and high stock of debt around 90% of GDP, the nominal GDP growth is going to be very important to prevent any further erosion of fiscal settings in the country and to enable some degree of fiscal consolidation going forward, S&P Global Ratings Director (Sovereign) Andrew Wood said.
Meanwhile, Indian government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday signed a $300 million loan as additional financing to scale up improvement of rural connectivity to help boost rural economy in Maharashtra. The additional financing for the ongoing Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project will help improve an additional 1,100 rural roads and 230 bridges for a total length of 2,900 kilometers in 34 districts.
The Ministry of Finance in a statement said with the additional financing, the overall project will improve the condition and safety of five thousand kilometer of rural roads and over 200 bridges connecting rural communities.
Gainers & Losers:
ONGC (up 2.82%), Nestle India (up 2.67%), Tata Motors (up 1.42%), Bharti Airtel (up 0.93%) and ITC (up 0.71%) were major gainers in Nifty 50 index.
SBI Life Insurance Company (down 3.69%), Ultratech Cement Co. (down 1.04%), Axis Bank (down 0.96%), HDFC Bank (down 0.93%) and Titan Company (down 0.88%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.
Stocks in Spotlight:
UCO Bank soared 10.77% after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday announced that it has removed the state-owned lender from prompt corrective action (PCA) restrictions. The Reserve Bank of India in a press release on Wednesday said, "The performance of the UCO Bank, currently under the Prompt Corrective Action Framework (PCAF) was reviewed by the board for financial supervision. It was noted that as per its published results for the year ended 31 March 2021 the bank is not in the breach of the PCA parameters."
Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) rose 0.10%. JSPL, through its step-down subsidiary, Jindal Steel & Power (Australia), has prepaid $105.66 million (about Rs 777.4 crore). The prepayment has helped reduce the Australian debt by approximately 50%. The company's Net Debt/EBITDA on consolidated basis was reported at 0.96x while standalone Net Debt/EBITDA was approximately 0.7x as of June quarter which is expected to go down further this quarter. JSPL has been working on net debt reduction of more than Rs 31,306 crore from a peak of approximately Rs 46,533 crore in 3QFY17 to Rs 15,227 crore as reported in Q1 FY22.
Global Markets:
US Dow Jones index futures were down 121 points, indicating a weak opening in the US stock market today.
European stocks declined across the board while Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday, 9 September 2021, as investors continue to fret over a slowdown in the recovery from the pandemic.
Investors keenly await European Central Bank (ECB)'s outlook on inflation, interest rates and hints on when it might start tapering its massive asset-purchase program despite uncertainty over economic growth and COVID-19.
In Asia, China's consumer price index rose 0.8% year-on-year in August. Meanwhile, the producer price index jumped 9.5% from a year ago.
In the US, Wall Street ended lower on Wednesday, spooked by worries that the Delta coronavirus variant could blunt the economy's recovery and on uncertainty about when the US Federal Reserve may pull back its accommodative policies.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve said in its latest "Beige Book" that U.S. businesses are experiencing rising inflation that is being intensified by a shortage of goods and likely will be passed onto consumers in many areas.
The Fed also reported that growth overall had "downshifted slightly to a moderate pace" amid rising public health concerns during the July through August period that the report covers. The deceleration in economic activity was largely attributable to a pullback in dining out, travel, and tourism in most Districts, reflecting safety concerns due to the rise of the Delta variant, and, in a few cases, international travel restrictions, the report said.
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