Sensex Opens Over 500 Points Up; IT and Healthcare Stocks Gain

Thu, 26 Mar 09:30 am

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Asian stock markets are lower today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares fall. The Shanghai Composite is off 0.1% while the Hang Seng is down 0.9%. The Nikkei 225 is trading down by 3.8%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rallied for a second straight session on Wednesday as the US Senate appeared near a vote on a US$2 trillion package to support businesses and households devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Back home, India share markets have opened in green. The BSE Sensex is trading up by 532 points while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 156 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index opened up by 0.5% and 0.8% respectively.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed with IT stocks and healthcare stocks witnessing buying interest. Automobiles stocks and telecom stocks are trading in the red.

Note that, since the coronavirus outbreak, all BSE indices and NSE indices are down in the range of 25-35%.

Speaking of sectoral impact, in the article titled: Worst Hit Indian Sectors Amid Coronavirus Pandemic: 10 Points to Know, we dive deeper and look at how the impact has been on individual sectors...

Gold prices are currently trading up by 2% at Rs 42,217.

The rupee is currently trading at 76.36 against the US$.

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to haunt the global financial markets, the rupee remains under pressure after breaching the 75 as well as 76 levels against the US dollar in the past few sessions.

On Monday, the rupee depreciated past the 76 mark against the US currency for the first time ever and settled at 76.16 for the day - within two days of hitting 75 for the very first time.

The rupee had taken 17 months to breach the 75 mark after hitting 74 against the greenback for the first time. In other words, the October 2018 low of 74.48 was not breached until Thursday, March 19.

But how far is the 77 mark against the greenback?

As per the reports, the rupee is now the Rs 76/US$ stage and the next testing point will be 77, which is expected soon. The reason for this is more on the global side with the dollar strengthening and other currencies weakening.

Note that, stock markets the world over have seen a sharp fall. Indian share markets have declined sharply as well.

The Sensex saw its biggest one-day fall on Monday 23 March.

Is this the Future of Stock Trading?

The coronavirus pandemic has created a sense of fear among investors and traders worldwide.

What is different about this market crash unlike others before it, is the pace of fall.

The Indian share market has fallen more than 35% from its peak in just over a month, which is the fastest crash in history.

The sharp decline can be attributed to algorithmic trading as well as foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows.

Co-head of Research, Tanushree Banerjee believes, in this new era of sharp declines, the rebound rally can be equally sharp and quick as well. It is important to remember this.

A part of this decline is due to the coronavirus impact, a part of it is due to external factors as well.

Look at fundamentally strong stocks in this market correction. She believes, these stocks will likely rebound the fastest when the coronavirus threat passes.

Moving on to the news from the economy. According to ratings agency India Ratings, a nationwide lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic will adversely impact construction companies and a month's lockdown can erode 8-10% of their fourth quarter revenue.

As per the report, fourth quarter of every fiscal typically accounts for 30-35% of the annual revenue of construction companies.

The agency believes that construction activities across cities like Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Delhi, Pune, and Bengaluru are likely to be stalled or progress at a significantly slower-than-anticipated pace for a major portion of March 2020 which may continue in April as well.

Companies with ongoing significant construction works in such cities are the ones likely to be the most affected, as they are turning out to be the epicentre of the outbreak.

Furthermore, a large chunk of construction workers who consequently are heading to their hometowns in the interiors of the country are likely to return only after the situation normalises, which can even be a month from now or even later.

Consequently, the revenue trajectory is likely to be affected. In addition, continued expenditure in the form of overheads and finance charges is also likely to affect the profitability of construction companies, owing to a lower base for absorption of these overheads.

How this pans out going forward remains to be seen. We will keep you updated on the developments from this space.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

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