Domestic markets closed in red; Sensex slips 341 points & Nifty loses 0.61%

Domestic indices saw profit-taking after rising for four consecutive trading sessions on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The S&P BSE Sensex declined 340.60 points or 0.69 per cent to 49,161.81. The Nifty 50 index fell 91.60 points or 0.61 per cent to close at 14,850.75. The Nifty Bank index lost 270.20 points or 0.82 per cent to settle at 32,872.20.

The broader markets remained resilient to the market fall and closed higher. The S&P BSE MidCap closed 0.60 per cent higher while S&P BSE SmallCap closed 0.80 per cent higher.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,845 shares rose and 1,198 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 22 shares advanced and 28 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were Coal India (up 5.85 per cent), NTPC (up 4.87 per cent), IOC (up 4.39 per cent), ONGC (up 3.60 per cent), and BPL (up 1.93 per cent). The top five losers were JSW Steel (down 3.38 per cent), Hindalco (down 2.99 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 2.97 per cent), HDFC (down 2.82 per cent) and Divi's Laboratory (down 1.60 per cent).

COVID-19 update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 15,89,57,229 with 33,03,877 deaths. India reported 37,15,221 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 2,49,992 deaths while 1,90,27,304 patients have been discharged, data showed. The country reported 3,29,942 cases in the last 24 hours taking the total caseload of Covid-19 cases to 2,29,92,517. The last time India recorded around 3.20 lakh cases in a day was on April 27, 2021, when a 24-hour count was at 3,23,144 cases.

US Inflation Data

US inflation data will be released on Wednesday amid growing concerns that the Federal Reserve will be prompted to tighten its monetary policy stance as prices rise along with the reopening of the global economy.

Slowest Population Growth in China

China posted its slowest population growth since the 1950s, sharply reducing the size of the labour force as the nation ages and worsening demographic pressures in the economy. There were 1.412 billion people in China last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday in its once-a-decade census report, slightly lower than a 2017 forecast of 1.42 billion. The annual average growth of 0.53 per cent in the past decade was the slowest since 1953. China's population growth has been slowing for decades.