Market drifts lower on negative Asian stocks

Indian stocks drifted lower in early trade as domestic factors such as a sharp surge in the coronavirus cases and extension of the lockdown may weigh on investors sentiment. Negative Asian stocks also weighed on the bourses.

At 9:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 294.12 points or 0.97% at 30,085.69. The Nifty 50 index was down 74.35 points or 0.83% at 8,850.95.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.07%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.34%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 708 shares rose and 501 shares fell. A total of 52 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in news:

IT major TCS dropped 2.87%. TCS will release its March quarter result today, April 16.

Wipro fell 2.06%. On a consolidated basis, Wipro's net profit declined 5.29% to Rs 2,326.10 crore on 1.55% increase in revenue to Rs 15,711 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q3 December 2019. The company's IT services segment revenue was at $2,073.70 million in Q4, a decrease of 1% QoQ, the IT major said after market hours on 15 April 2020.

The company estimated that the IT services revenues for Q4 March 2020 were negatively impacted by COVID-19 by approximately $14 -$16 million (0.7%-0.8% of revenues).

JSW Energy rose 1.6%. Brickwork Ratings India has reaffirmed its ratings of ''BWR A1+'' on Commercial Papers of JSW Energy.

Seshasayee Paper and Boards advanced 3.48%. The company had recommenced its operations in its Unit : Erode on April 13, 2020. The company expects the production ramp-up to be slow until May 3, 2020, considering the extension of the ongoing nation-wide lockdown.

India Cements slipped 0.36%. Credit Analysis & Research Limited (CARE) has revised the ratings on India Cements' long-term bank facilities and non-convertible debentures as 'CARE A-' from 'CARE A'. The outlook remained 'stable'. On the short-term bank facilities, the revised rating is 'CARE A2+' from 'CARE A1' earlier.

Global Markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading lower on Thursday, after a coronavirus-driven plunge in US retail sales and factory production and increasing gloomy economic outlooks for Asia.

In US, stocks fell on Wednesday as dismal economic data and first-quarter earnings reports compounded concerns over the extent of damage from the coronavirus outbreak.

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