Daily Markets - April 19, 2021 - Mr. Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities

Indian benchmark equity indices ended lower on April 19 amid fears of impact of the second wave of Covid-19 and the consequent lockdowns on the economy. Nifty opened gap down and made a feeble attempt to rise through the day. At close, the NSE Nifty 50 Index also dropped 1.77% or 258 points to end at 14359. This made India the worst performing market in Asia. The Indian rupee fell by the most in almost two weeks by about 0.5% to 74.89.

Volumes on the NSE were a tad below the recent averages. Among sectors, all ended in the red except Pharma. Financials (especially PSU Bank) led the falling sectors. The Nifty Midcap index fell 1.9% while the Smallcap index declined 1.6%.

Asian shares gained Monday amid cautious optimism about a global rebound from the coronavirus pandemic. However fresh waves of COVID-19 infections in South and Southeast Asia have sapped risk appetite in recent days. Chinese stocks outperformed amid easing concerns about the health of state enterprise China Huarong Asset Management Co., a distressed-debt manager. European stocks were steady on Monday as investors looked for fresh catalysts to push global shares beyond record highs.

Nifty has formed a second down gap in 5 days signifying the underlying weakness. However the close today was near the intra day high thereby making a hanging man type of formation. This could mean some more upside recovery in the near term. However at higher levels, markets will keep seeing repeated selling given the impact of Covid second wave on businesses and the economy.

Source : Equity Bulls

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