Barometers turn negative

The Sensex and the Nifty reversed trend and slipped into negative terrain in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 264.76 points or 0.88% at 29,802.45. The Nifty 50 index was down 45.70 points or 0.52% at 8,746.50.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.70% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 1.60%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1411 shares rose and 825 shares fell. A total of 163 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 20 stocks advanced while 30 stocks declined.

Profit selling emerged at higher levels after rating agency ICRA on Tuesday said that it was expecting the coronavirus to impact India Inc on multiple counts. The fallout of the virus could range from domestic demand slowdown, supply chain disruptions to foreign exchange rate fluctuations, among others. Icra Ratings on Tuesday sharply cut the country's GDP forecast amid the COVID-19 crisis and expects the economy to grow at just 2% in the current fiscal. It said the nationwide lockdown announced to contain the coronavirus outbreak has impacted industries and their operations have come to a standstill. "The Indian economy is likely to witness a sharp contraction of 4.5% (de-growth) during Q4 FY20 and is expected to recover gradually, to post a GDP growth of just 2% in FY21," ICRA said.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index rose 1.32% to 5,017.05, extending gains for second day. The index has added 11.05% in two sessions.

Ashok Leyland (up 8.91%), TVS Motor Company (up 5.4%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 2.37%), Tata Motors (up 1.78%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.18%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.65%) advanced.

Escorts (down 2.24%) and Bajaj Auto (down 0.73%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Alkem Laboratories (up 13.96%), Cummins India (up 13.89%) and Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company (up 9.03%), were top mid-cap gainers.

Vivimed Labs (up 20%), Morepen Laboratories (up 19.95%) and Sakuma Exports (up 19.95%) were the major small-cap gainers.

Meanwhile, Aster DM Healthcare (up 6.54%), Cholamandalam Financial Holdings (down 1.80%), The Ramco Cements (down 3.33%), Cadila Healthcare (up 15.31%), Eicher Motors (down 0.25%), IPCA Laboratories (up 6.31%), Torrent Pharmaceuticals (up 6.56%), ACC (down 4.07%), Mishra Dhatu Nigam (up 3.49%), Hindalco Industries (down 2.15%) and Aurobindo Pharma (down 0.71%) witnessed heavy volumes.

West Coast Paper Mills gained 4.94% to Rs 143.30. The company said that it has partially started production at Paper and Duplex Board Division, Dandeli with a bare minimal strength of staff and labour.

Thermax fell 1.11% to Rs 719. The company said that CRISIL had assigned a long term rating of 'CRISIL AA+/Stable' and a short term rating of 'CRISIL A1+' on the bank facilities of the company worth Rs 3260 crore.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee edged lower to 76.34 compared with its previous closing of 75.64.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.441% as compared with 6.418% in the previous trading session.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for June 2020 settlement was down 5 cents to $31.82 a barrel. The contract fell $1.18 or 3.57% to settle at $31.87 a barrel in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 June 2020 settlement fell 0.47% to Rs 44,870.

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