share this article!

Staff of Reuters Read for 2 minutes Reuters, BENGALURU, July 1 – On Thursday, Indian stocks began the month of July on a sour note, weighed down by losses in information technology firms and statistics showing the country’s factory activity shrank for the first time in eleven months. At the close, the blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.26 percent at 15,680, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.31 percent to 52,318.60. Both indexes increased by around 1% in June, thanks to a drop in COVID-19 cases and an increase in immunizations. According to a private survey released on Thursday, India’s factory activity dropped for the first time in almost a year in June as limitations to contain the fatal second wave of the coronavirus sparked losses in demand and output, forcing firms to slash more positions. Meanwhile, in afternoon trade on Thursday, the Indian rupee fell to its lowest level since late April, weighed down by broad dollar strength ahead of US jobs data and weak domestic stocks. Among other sub-indices, the Nifty IT and Nifty energy indexes were the biggest drags, losing 0.57 percent each. With increases of 0.82 percent and 0.93 percent, respectively, the Nifty Auto and Nifty Pharma indexes kept sentiment marginally optimistic. The Nifty pharma index gained for the fourth time in five sessions. Tata Motors Ltd and Bajaj Auto Ltd were among the biggest gainers on the Nifty 50, gaining more than 1% each after both companies reported better June sales than a year ago. Zydus Cadila, a pharmaceutical company, was among the losers, closing 0.9 percent lower. In a preliminary study, the business said it was seeking approval from India’s pharma authority for emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine, which had a 66.6 percent efficacy rate against positive cases. After the government removed limits on imported refined palm oil and lowered its import duty, vegetable oil refiners such as Ruchi Soya and Natraj Proteins saw their stock drop between 1.9 percent and 4.1 percent. Rama Venkat contributed reporting from Bengaluru, and Krishna Chandra Eluri edited the piece./nRead More

share this article!