Sensex, Nifty decline around half a per cent amid mixed global cues

Equity indices extending their losing streak to a third trading session and ended at the day's low on Thursday, September 30, 2021. The S&P BSE Sensex closed 286.91 points or 0.48 per cent down at 59,126.36. The Nifty 50 index ended 93.15 points or 0.53 per cent lower at 17,618.15. The Nifty Bank index dropped 317.90 points or 0.84 per cent to 37,425.10.

The broader markets outperformed the Sensex with S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap closed 0.33 per cent and 0.56 per cent higher, respectively.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1844 shares rose and 1425 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index at the NSE, 9 shares advanced, while 40 shares declined and one share remained unchanged. The top five gainers on Nifty 50 were Bajaj Finance (up 2.11 per cent), Bajaj Finserv (up 2.11 per cent), Tata Motors (up 1.04 per cent), NTPC (up 0.82 per cent) and Sun Pharma (up 0.80 per cent). The top five losers were Power Grid (down 2.82 per cent), Asian Paints (down 2.26 per cent), Shree Cement (down 2.15 per cent), Axis Bank (down 1.95 per cent) and Eicher Motors (down 1.91 per cent).

Aditya Birla AMC IPO

The Rs 2,786 crore initial public offering (IPO) of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC was subscribed 1.08 times today, the second day of bidding. The three-day issue will close on October 1, 2021. The company has a plan to raise up to Rs 2,786 crore from this public issue. The initial share sales price band has been fixed at Rs 695-712. An investor can bid for a minimum of 20 equity stocks (one lot) and in multiples of 20 stocks thereafter. The offer is entirely an offer for sale, wherein two promoters -- Aditya Birla Capital and Sun Life (India) AMC Investments -- will divest their stakes in the asset management firm.

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 233,231,373 with 4,773,860 deaths. India reported 277,020 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 448,062 deaths, data showed.

Economy

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved a USD356.67 million loan to the Government of India to support the expansion of the Chennai metro rail system. The project involves the construction of a new corridor in Chennai's metro network as part of Chennai Metro Rail Phase 2. It will span from Lighthouse in the east to Poonamalee Bypass in the west to ensure seamless multimodal transport across Chennai by providing integrated access to suburban rail, bus stations and the city's main airport. In addition, the project will address traffic bottlenecks and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing public urban transport options.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his counterparts at the European Central Bank, Bank of Japan and Bank of England voiced cautious optimism on Wednesday that supply-chain disruptions lifting inflation rates around the world would ultimately prove temporary. "The current inflation spike is really a consequence of supply constraints meeting very strong demand, and that is all associated with the reopening of the economy -- which is a process that will have a beginning, a middle and an end," Mr Powell said on Wednesday while participating in a virtual panel event with ECB President Christine Lagarde, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey.

Ms Lagarde echoed Mr Powell's message, arguing the current bout of inflation "is largely attributable to the reopening of the economy," and adding that "we certainly have no reason believe that these price increases that we are seeing now will not be largely transitory going forward." Central banks in some jurisdictions are beginning to contemplate what monetary policy normalisation will look like after rolling out extraordinary measures in 2020 as the Coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, shutting down broad swathes of the world economy.