Sensex, Nifty trade lower; FMCG shares decline

Benchmarks traded with modest losses in mid-afternoon trade as rising COVID-19 cases dented investors sentiment. The Nifty hovered above the 14,600 mark. FMCG stocks were under pressure.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 84.72 points or 0.14% at 48,650.44. The Nifty 50 index declined 22.1 points or 0.15% at 14,612.10.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.31% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.33%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1,555 shares rose and 1345 shares fell. A total of 174 shares were unchanged.

Coronavirus Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 15,35,53,270 with 32,13,573 deaths. India reported 34,47,133 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 2,22,408 deaths while 1,66,13,292 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

India on Monday reported 3,57,229 fresh COVID-19 cases. With this, the cumulative caseload nears 20.3 million, according to MoHFW. In the past seven days alone, India has added 26,13,415 infections to its tally. As many as 3,438 deaths were reported. The country now has 3.44 million active cases.

The six most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (4,771,022), Kerala (1,664,789), Karnataka (1,601,865), Uttar Pradesh (1,313,487), Tamil Nadu (1,207,112), and Delhi (1,194,552).

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty FMCG index fell 0.52% to 33,816.80. Tata Consumer Products (down 4.8%), Jubilant Foodworks (down 2.47%), Godrej Consumer Products (down 1.4%), Dabur (down 0.65%) and United Breweries (down 0.6%) declined.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee rose to 73.89 compared with its previous closing of 73.95.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.006% as compared to its previous close of 6.001%.

MCX Gold futures for 4 June 2021 settlement fell 0.12% to Rs 47,260.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.35% to 91.243.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for July 2021 settlement rose 61 cents to $68.17 a barrel. The contract increased by 1.2% to settle at $67.56 in the previous trading session.

Economy:

Due to slow pace of vaccinations and uncertainty around the number of those infected and dead in the second COVID-19 wave, global brokerage firm Barclays cut India's FY22 GDP growth estimate to 10% from earlier 11%. If the ongoing localised lockdowns continue till June 2021, it will lead to economic losses amounting to $38.4 billion, it said.

In a more pessimistic scenario of the pandemic not being brought under control soon and mobility restrictions continuing till August 2021, the growth can fall to 8.8%, Barclays warned. The country's economy is estimated to contract by 7.6% in FY21 as the pandemic-induced lockdowns led to chilling of economic activity, hurt jobs and demand.

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