Paring all the morning gains, Sensex and Nifty slipped into a negative territory on Wednesday weighed by losses in private bank stocks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank. The 30-share index Sensex was trading 520 points or 1.7 per cent lower at 30,058, while the broader Nifty 50 index dropped 158 points or 1.77 per cent to 8,808 points. “Markets will continue to follow the global cues and therefore further downside cannot be ruled out in the near-term. In these uncertain times, we suggest market participants to avoid risky bets and start investing in a phased manner,” Ajit Mishra, VP- Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.
What’s weighing Sensex, Nifty today-
IndusInd Bank down 7%- As many as 22 stocks out of 30 Sensex stocks were trading in deep sea of red, IndusInd Bank as top loser, down 6.79 per cent to Rs 563.25, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance and Titan. Conversely, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Infosys and HUL were top Sensex gainers.
Nifty Pharma index only sectoral gainer- Barring Nifty Pharma index, all the sectoral indices were trading lower. Nifty Bank index was top sectoral loser, down 3.60 per cent or 770 points dragged by Federal Bank, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
SC slams telcos on self-assessment- Supreme Court in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) ruling on Wednesday said can’t allow self-assessment of dues by telecom companies. It has made it clear that telecom companies will have to pay interest and penalty as per the judgment.
S&P lowers India’s growth forecast- S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday lowered India’s economic growth forecast to 5.2 per cent for 2020, saying the global economy is entering a recession amid the coronavirus pandemic. The agency had earlier projected a growth rate of 5.7 per cent during the 2020 calendar. Asia-Pacific economic growth in 2020 will more than halve to less than 3 per cent as the “global economy enters a recession”, S&P said in a statement.
Coronavirus cases in India rises to 147- The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India has risen to 147, comprising 122 Indian nationals and 25 foreign nationals, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website stated.