Domestic benchmark indices fell about a per cent; Sensex tumbled 471 points & Nifty closed at 14,697

Equity indices ended with steep losses on Wednesday, May 12, 2021, falling for a second trading session. The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 471.01 points or 0.96 per cent to 48,690.80. The Nifty 50 index lost 154.25 points or 1.04 per cent to close at 14,696.50. The Nifty Bank index lost 419.90 points or 1.28 per cent to close at 32,452.30.

The broader markets also feel in line with the market. The S&P BSE MidCap lost 0.90 per cent and the S&P BSE SmallCap index fell 0.62 per cent. Among key sectoral indices, the Nifty Metal index tumbled 2.97 per cent, followed by the Nifty Private Bank index which lost 1.64 per cent.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,604 shares rose and 1,467 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 15 shares advanced and 35 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors (up 3.17 per cent), Titan (up 1.62 per cent), Maruti (up 1.31 per cent), PowerGrid (up 1.16 per cent) and Cipla (up 1.02 per cent). The top five losers were Tata Steel (down 4.77 per cent), Hindalco (down 3.46 per cent), JSW Steel (down 3.45 per cent), IndusInd Bank (down 3.41 per cent) and BPCL (down 3.08 per cent).

Indian stock markets will remain closed tomorrow on account of Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan Id).

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 15,97,03,471 with 33,18,053 deaths. India reported 37,04,099 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 2,54,197 deaths while 1,93,82,642 patients have been discharged, data showed. India lost 4,205 people to the COVID-19 pandemic in the last 24 hours, data showed on Wednesday. This is the highest-ever death count that India has ever seen in a single day since the pandemic began in 2020. This is the third time in a span of 10 days that India has officially recorded over 4,000 deaths in 24 hours.

Forecast on India's GDP

Amid a strong second COVID-19 wave, Moody's cut India's FY22 GDP growth forecast. The rating agency slashed the projection to 9.3 per cent for FY22 from the 13.7 per cent forecast earlier. It also ruled out a sovereign rating upgrade, at least for now. However, the UN has raised India's growth forecast to 7.5 per cent for CY21, a 0.2 per cent increase from its projection in January 2021. India's outlook for the year remained "highly fragile", it said.

The World Economic Situation and Prospects report, released on Tuesday, also projected India's GDP to grow by 10.1 per cent in 2022.