Bourses manage to keep their heads above water in afternoon deals

In an extremely choppy session, Indian equity benchmarks managed to keep their heads above water in afternoon session, on the back of buying by funds and retail investors despite weak trend in Asian markets. Traders took some support with private report that foreign investments will continue to increase in the Indian market. It noted that here is nothing wrong with the economic outlook in India with inflationary pressure and the number of houses forecasting that the RBI will cut the repo rate a number of times this year, one should be sanguine about the economic outlook in India. Traders also took note of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) statement that it would infuse Rs 12,500 crore into the system through open market operations (OMOs) on March 14. However, gains were limited as cautiousness remained in markets with data showing that retail inflation jumped to a four-month high of 2.57 percent in February, and industrial growth slipped to 1.7 percent in January on account of manufacturing sector slowdown.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, amid continuing global uncertainties that weighed on stocks as some traders took profits from a rally earlier in the week. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37604.52, up by 68.86 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 37478.87 and 37703.49. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.22%, while Small cap index was down by 0.26%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.92%, Bankex up by 0.32% and FMCG up by 0.14%, while Metal down by 1.91%, Telecom down by 1.34%, Basic Materials down by 0.91%, PSU down by 0.90% and Utilities down by 0.89% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 2.25%, Indusind Bank up by 1.91%, HCL Tech. up by 1.59%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.45% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.56%, ONGC down by 2.40%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.04%, Tata Steel down by 1.82% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) in its latest report has said that public sector firms across half of the Indian states along with the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector are driving blockchain adoption in India to address different challenges of citizen service delivery. It said the state government is also ensuring a progressive approach to impart a conducive framework for start-ups and niche service providers to participate in these initiatives. 

According to the report, there are currently more than 40 blockchain initiatives being undertaken by public sector companies with about 92% of those in pilot phase and 8% in the production phase. It further said that enterprises across all key industries in India are also identifying different applications of blockchain. It also observed that the BFSI sector has seen the highest adoption, but other industries such as healthcare, retail and logistics are also accelerating rapidly.

The industry body has stated that start-ups are involved in over 50% of the blockchain projects across various industries in the country. It said “even as the demand for blockchain-based talent is growing at 40% each quarter, it is time to reiterate the importance of a skilled workforce. It is imperative to prepare our workforce through training programmes and skill initiatives in this field, so that service providers in the country don't fall behind the global standards.”

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11305.15, up by 3.95 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 11276.60 and 11342.10. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Bank up by 2.18%, Indusind Bank up by 2.06%, HPCL up by 1.68%, HCL Tech. up by 1.61% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.57%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.70%, Indian Oil Corp. down by 3.41%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.50%, JSW Steel down by 2.33% and ONGC down by 2.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 132.44 points or 0.46% to 28,788.43, Nikkei 225 slipped 213.45 points or 0.99% to 21,290.24, KOSPI fell 8.77 points or 0.41% to 2,148.41, Straits Times trembled 26.61 points or 0.83% to 3,185.64, Shanghai Composite was down by 45.12 points or 1.47% to 3,015.19.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 29.99 points or 0.29% to 10,373.32 and Jakarta Composite was up by 4.13 points or 0.07% to 6,357.90.