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Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in the afternoon session on account of selling pressure in frontline counters. Investors’ focus will be on the CPI and IIP data due later in the day. Fall in global equities after the US inflation data hinted at more aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserves to tackle slowdown in economies over world dented traders’ sentiments. Depreciating rupee also added pressure on the markets. Indian rupee hits a fresh low amid risk aversion in the global markets and strong dollar. The currency opened at 77.52 a dollar and touched a fresh record low of 77.63 a dollar. Russia-Ukraine war and China's COVID lockdowns also worried investors. On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower as data showed US inflation was persistently high, and investors feared about the economic toll of aggressive interest rate hikes to tame it.

Back home, broader indices reeling under intense selling pressure, were nursing heavy losses of around a 2 percent each. Losses of bourses were led by shares from metal, power and utilities counters. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 2617:627; while 80 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 53081.18, down by 1007.21 points or 1.86% after trading in a range of 52994.75 and 53632.55. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 2.20%, while Small cap index was down by 1.73%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 3.98%, Power down by 2.98%, Utilities down by 2.93%, Consumer Durables down by 2.86% and Bankex was down by 2.74%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech up by 0.91%, TCS up by 0.63%, Wipro up by 0.50%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.39% and Asian Paints was up by 0.13%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 5.31%, Tata Steel down by 4.21%, Bajaj Finance down by 4.04%, SBI down by 3.44% and Bajaj Finserv was down by 3.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA) chairman, Ravi Sam has appealed to all stakeholders in the cotton textile value chain to stand united and adopt a win-win strategy to mitigate the crisis rather than demanding the government to take certain short-sighted policy decisions. He said banning or imposing quantitative restrictions on cotton and yarn exports would tarnish the country's image as a reliable supplier in the global market.

The chairman said the Indian spinners have contracted over 10 lakh bales after April 14 as against 5 to 6 lakh bales contracted till April 13 from the beginning of the season that might reach the mills only by the end of June. He said the cotton price might soften once imported cotton as well as summer cotton from states like Tamil Nadu arrive at the mills, and cotton consumption might also drop considerably due to unviability. He also said the industry can appeal to the Government to extend the period of import duty removal beyond September 30 to tide over the crisis, which would change the market sentiments and would not affect the cotton farmers, as the prices would remain much above the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

The appeal has come in the backdrop of advice by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who on May 9, 2022, had urged the stakeholders to avoid seeking any demands that might benefit one segment, but could affect others in the value chain. The spot cotton prices of Gujarat Shankar-6 benchmark variety that prevailed at Rs 76,600 per candy of 355 kg during the beginning of March 2022, is now ruling at Rs 99,000. The cotton yarn price was earlier Rs 411 per kg and is now ruling at Rs 481 per kg.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15834.85, down by 332.25 points or 2.06% after trading in a range of 15824.40 and 16041.95. There were 3 stocks advancing against 47 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 0.60%, TCS up by 0.38% and Wipro up by 0.13%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 6.21%, Adani Ports down by 6.11%, Indusind Bank down by 5.52%, Bajaj Finance down by 4.40% and Tata Steel was down by 4.16% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading under pressure; Hang Seng decreased 397.47 points or 2% to 19,427.10, Jakarta Composite lost 157.65 points or 2.31% to 6,658.55, Nikkei 225 slipped 464.92 points or 1.77% to 25,748.72, Shanghai Composite declined 9.74 points or 0.32% to 3,048.96, Straits Times trembled 38.90 points or 1.21% to 3,187.17, KOSPI fell 42.19 points or 1.63% to 2,550.08 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 389.57 points or 2.43% to 15,616.68.

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