Sensex, Nifty recoup most of their losses

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed some of their losses in late afternoon session, but continued to trade in red amid subdued global indices. All sectors were deep in the red, with the heavyweight Metal, FMCG and IT spaces being the worst drags on headline indices. India VIX was up by 14.64%. Downside remain capped, after private report stated that generation of e-way bills for inter-state trade under the goods and services tax (GST) system stood at 24.27 lakh in the week ended February 20, 3.2% higher than in the week ended January 23, reflecting an improvement in commerce. On the global front, All Asian markets and European markets were trading lower after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, suggesting a long-feared invasion was possibly underway.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57,471.53, down by 212.06 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 56394.85 and 57360.95. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.92%, while Small cap index was down by 1.54%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 2.57%, Telecom down by 1.96%, Metal down by 1.81%, Basic Materials down by 1.56% and Oil & Gas was down by 1.55%, while there were no gainers on sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.03%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.71%, ICICI Bank up by 0.36%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.32% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.31%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.74%, TCS down by 3.21%, SBI down by 2.24%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.95% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s economic growth, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that Indian economy growing at 9.2%, among fastest-growing large economies. He added the Indian economy is expected to grow at similar rates in the coming years. While referring to the government’s production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for sunrise sectors, he said it will add $520 billion to India’s output in the next five years and make India a part of the global supply chain.

He said ‘Today India is witnessing unprecedented levels of economic development and technological disruptions. The economy is growing at 9.2 per cent and is expected to grow at similar rates in the coming years, making us one of the fastest-growing large economies in the world’. He noted the country has taken several measures to maximise efficiency and several reforms have been taken by the government in that direction such as GST, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, lowering of corporate taxes, etc. This will help make India a global manufacturing champion and manufacturing hub.

The government has rolled out robust infrastructure schemes such as the National infra asset monetisation pipeline and PM Gati Shakti. Kant said ‘the combined affect would ensure the development of a world-class infrastructure with the participation of both - the government and the private sector’. He stressed that embracing technology would be the key to future success and relevance.

India has already succeeded in creating an ecosystem of technology with 814 million internet users and 85 unicorns. Calling the COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘black swan’ event, he said it threw new problems and challenges, which required new strategies to address. He added ‘this also helped to identify new opportunities which contribute to the strengthening of the position’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17,116.80, down by 89.85 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 16843.80 and 17102.30. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 0.57%, Cipla up by 0.55%, ONGC up by 0.55%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.40% and Eicher Motors up by 0.37%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 4.24%, Tata Steel down by 3.90%, Tata Motors down by 3.43%, TCS down by 3.34% and UPL down by 2.72% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Hang Seng decreased 650.07 points or 2.69% to 23,520.00, Nikkei 225 slipped 461.26 points or 1.71% to 26,449.61, Taiwan Weighted dropped 252.20 points or 1.38% to 17,969.29, Jakarta Composite lost 40.98 points or 0.59% to 6,861.99, Straits Times trembled 38.48 points or 1.12% to 3,397.88, KOSPI fell 37.01 points or 1.35% to 2,706.79 and Shanghai Composite was down by 33.46 points or 0.96% to 3,457.15.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 35.91 points or 0.48% to 7,448.42, France’s CAC fell 60.24 points or 0.89% to 6,728.10 and Germany’s DAX was down by 220.39 points or 1.5% to 14,510.73.