Dalal Street may fall prey to steep Asia sell-off
08/07/2015 08:36
A worsening rout in Asian equities amidst heightened fears of Greece being thrown out of the euro coupled with a China stock market collapse is poised to rattle investor sentiment at Dalal Street, pushing it lower for a second straight day on Wednesday. The 30-share Sensex, which on Tuesday snapped a two-day winning streak, shedding 37.07 points or 0.13 per cent to end at 28,171.69 as investors resorted to profit booking at existing levels, could witness a steep sell-off today as a rise in global risk aversion prompts traders to cut bullish bets. Further, with the April-June quarter corporate earnings season set to get underway from tomorrow, caution is expect to rule Dalal Street. TCS, the country’s biggest IT software services exporter will set the ball rolling as it unveils its Q1 FY 2015-16 earnings numbers on Thursday. May industrial output numbers will be released on Friday which will offer fresh cues over the health of Asia’s third biggest economy. In April 2015, factory output surged by 4.1 per cent, year on year.
A sharp slide in the SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for July delivery which fell 1.11 per cent at 8,432 at 10:35 am Singapore time, signals that Indian equity benchmarks may struggle to avoid the fate of its fellow Asian peers which were in steep reverse gear on Wednesday as Grexit bets rose after European leaders set a Sunday deadline for Greece to submit a new set of reforms or face the ugly consequences of being pushed out of the common currency, causing widespread panic among stock traders. German chancellor Angela Markel conceded that she wasn’t very optimistic over a solution to Greece’s five-year debt troubles while an event of a Greek exit from the euro threatens to undermine the credibility of the euro that was meant to be irreversible, casting doubts over the strength of the region’s economic, monetary and political integration. China’s Shanghai Composite sank more than 5 per cent, defying government measures to boost confidence in equities, landing a huge blow to the world’s second biggest economy already ravaged by a steep slowdown. China’s stocks have witnessed a steep correction since mid-June, shedding over 30 per cent of their value amid worries that leveraged traders are exiting bets after valuations topped levels seen during the country’s stock market bubble in 2007. Hang Seng shed more than 3 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei 225 was hit by a stronger yen on a spike in demand for safe haven assets, making exporter stocks less attractive. Meanwhile, Wall Street rallied on Tuesday as record high job openings in May signaled a strengthening labour market recovery in the world’s biggest economy, overshadowing Greek woes.
