Indian equity markets add losses in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets have lost some more ground in late afternoon session, as investors kept an eye on developments related to ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. The broader indices were trading mixed. Meanwhile, 390 stocks hit upper circuit against 151 stocks touching lower circuit, where not a single stock was from 'A' group. Traders were cautious after exporters’ body Federation of Indian Export Organisations said export cargoes to CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries are impacted due to ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine as no shipping line is willing to take consignments there. To these countries, Indian goods move from the Suez Canal and the Black Sea. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after the head of the Federal Reserve said he supports a smaller rise in interest rates than some expected. However, European markets were trading higher as the London Stock Exchange (LSE) blocked trading in 27 companies with close ties to Russia.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55179.09, down by 289.81 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 55052.02 and 55996.62. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.39%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.29%, Power up by 2.23%, Metal up by 1.69%, Oil & Gas up by 1.48% and IT was up by 1.18%, while Auto down by 1.84%, Bankex down by 1.25%, Consumer Discretionary down by 1.06%, Consumer Durables down by 0.89%, Capital Goods down by 0.86% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.83%, Power Grid up by 2.73%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.61%, Tata Steel up by 2.22% and HCL Tech up by 2.20%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 5.68%, Asian Paints down by 4.82%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 3.45%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.57% and Nestle down by 2.32% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to enhance efficiency in processing of bills/claims, the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman has launched the e-Bill system for Central Government Ministries. In a phased manner, the new system will make the entire process of submission and backend processing of bills completely paperless and transparent.  Thus, it is a major step forward in realizing the vision of ‘Digital India’ and promoting ease of doing business.

The objectives of the system are to provide convenience to all vendors/suppliers of the government to submit their bills/claims at anytime, from anywhere; eliminate physical interface between suppliers and government officers and reduce discretion in processing of bills through ‘First-In-First-Out’(FIFO) method.

The e-Bill system has been developed by the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) Division in the office of the Controller General of Accounts in the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. The bills will be processed by First-In-First-Out (FIFO) method.

In addition to promoting ease of doing business and brining convenience to lakhs of vendors/suppliers, the e-Bill system will be environment friendly, eliminating the need to submit crores of paper bills annually and will thus save tonnes of papers every year.  The e-Bill system has an elaborate digital storage facility for retrieval of documents and a robust audit trail.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16512.75, down by 93.20 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 16476.90 and 16768.95. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 2.95%, Power Grid up by 2.87%, Wipro up by 2.72%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.63% and HCL Tech up by 2.40%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 5.80%, Asian Paints down by 4.89%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 4.77%, Shree Cement down by 3.56% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 3.55% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 184.24 points or 0.7% to 26,577.27, Hang Seng increased 123.42 points or 0.55% to 22,467.34, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 66.80 points or 0.37% to 17,934.40, KOSPI rose 43.56 points or 1.61% to 2,747.08 and Straits Times was up by 19.68 points or 0.61% to 3,264.08. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 3.08 points or 0.09% to 3,481.11.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 12.39 points or 0.17% to 7,441.95, France’s CAC increased 24.22 points or 0.37% to 6,522.24 and Germany’s DAX was up by 2.33 points or 0.02% to 14,002.44.