Market movement today was largely on expected lines as Nifty ended below the level of 9,000. Several doubts were raised over the sustainability of last week's rally and seeing the chip chop of today's trade, the market is likely to nosedive toward 8,500 in the coming days.
Sensex closed 469 points down at 30,690.02 while Nifty lost 1.30% to close the day at 8,993.85. Mid-cap and small caps also gave up on gains after making a positive start of the day. L&T (up 6.24% ), Hindalco (up 6.00%) and Bharti Airtel (up 4.81%) were the major gainers of the day while Bajaj Finance (Down 10.37% ), Zee (Down 8.44%) and Bajaj Finserv (Down 6.85%) were the major laggards.
PM Modi's address to the nation tomorrow will be the key event to learn about India's lockdown exit strategy. Although no official announcement from the PM has been made, Six states have already extended the lockdown until April 30th. These states account for 30% of India’s population and 38% of GDP. While one cannot undermine the value of human lives, now, there is a need for extensive focus on livelihood as well.
The World Bank has already scaled down India's GDP growth rate between 1.5-2.8% - the lowest since the 1991 crisis. Restoration of the basic manufacturing activities and lifting the lockdown in unaffected areas is an immediate requirement to stop the economy from falling into the recession altogether.
