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There is no respite for the Indian markets and they continued to grapple in deep red in afternoon session ignoring the positive cues from the global bourses, as India continued to report a record spike in daily Covid-19 cases. Sentiments were fragile as Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pulled out a net Rs 4,615 crore from Indian markets in April so far amid sharp escalation in COVID-19 cases and the consequent restrictions imposed by various states, unnerving overseas investors. Meanwhile, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar stated that the country needs to prepare for ‘greater uncertainty’ in terms of consumer as well as investor sentiments due to the second wave of coronavirus infections, and the government will respond with fiscal measures as and when required. Weak broader indices along with heavy sell off at Bankex, PSU and Realty counters dragged the markets lower.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly firm with the continued optimism over global economic recovery amid positive earnings news and strong economic data from the US and China. Closer home, the market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2990 stocks traded, 579 stocks advanced, while 2237 stocks declined on the BSE, while 174 stocks remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 47673.17, down by 1158.86 points or 2.37% after trading in a range of 47362.71 and 47940.81. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 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 1.94%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Healthcare up by 0.55%, while Bankex down by 4.18%, PSU down by 3.66%, Realty down by 3.65%, Auto down by 3.03%, Consumer Discretionary down by 2.77% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.19%, Infosys up by 0.62% and HCL Tech was up by 0.10%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 5.76%, Axis Bank down by 5.45%, SBI down by 4.65%, Ultratech Cement down by 4.20% and ICICI Bank was down by 4.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid concerns regarding most of the players of NBFCs are unable to revive their businesses, Non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) have requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to extend the one-time restructuring scheme of MSME advances till March 31, 2022. In February last year, the RBI had permitted one-time restructuring of existing MSME advances, classified as 'standard' without downgrade in the asset classification subject to certain additional provisioning and other compliances.

The time limit for implementation of the scheme was till December 31, 2020. Recently, Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC), an industry body of NBFCs, written to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das that due to the severe second wave of COVID-19, the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have not been able to revive their economic activities and are in urgent need of support from the lenders. FIDC wrote ‘Considering the challenging environment for MSMEs and lenders, it will be helpful, if the RBI extends the restructuring scheme till at least March 31, 2022’.

NBFCs primarily cater to the funding needs of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), including retail and wholesale traders. The industry body also urged the RBI to allow restructuring of certain MSMEs loans that already have got similar relief under the same scheme during the first wave of COVID-19, but are now facing challenges. The FIDC has also requested the central bank to provide priority status lending (PSL) classification benefit for bank lending to NBFCs on a permanent basis. The industry body urged the RBI to allow bank refinance against the existing unencumbered MSME pool originated by NBFCs.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14279.05, down by 338.80 points or 2.32% after trading in a range of 14191.40 and 14332.00. There were 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 1.23%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.17%, Infosys up by 0.58%, Britannia Industries up by 0.41% and Divis Lab was up by 0.34%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 5.47%, Indusind Bank down by 5.45%, SBI down by 4.59%, Adani Ports down by 4.54% and Ultratech Cement was down by 4.25% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly firm; Straits Times advanced 6.59 points or 0.21% to 3,208.35, Nikkei 225 surged 2.00 points or 0.01% to 29,685.37, KOSPI rose 0.22 points or 0.01% to 3,198.84, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 104.47 points or 0.61% to 17,263.28, Hang Seng increased 177.52 points or 0.61% to 29,147.23 and Shanghai Composite was up by 49.07 points or 1.43% to 3,475.69.

On the flip side; Jakarta Composite was down by 44.30 points or 0.73% to 6,041.96.

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