Bourses continue to reel under pressure in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks continued to reel under pressure in late afternoon session. Cautiousness remained in the markets after Petrol and diesel prices were hiked yet again by 80 paise a litre. This is the third time in the week that petrol and diesel prices went up -- witnessing an overall increase of Rs 2.4 per litre, after a four-month hiatus. Selling in Consumer Durables and Capital Goods’ counter pulled down the markets lower. Traders paid no heed towards commerce ministry’s statement that India and the United Kingdom have concluded the second round of talks for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), which aims at further strengthening the economic ties. The third round of negotiations is due to be hosted by India in April. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after Western governments promised new sanctions on Russia and President Vladimir Putin tried to prop up Moscow's sinking ruble by threatening to require Europe to use it to pay for gas exports. European markets were trading lower as investors mull concerns over surging inflation and slowing growth amid the war in Ukraine.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57195.68, down by 400.00 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 57100.24 and 57845.37. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.52%, while Small cap index was down by 0.37%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.88%, Metal up by 0.34%, Energy up by 0.23% and Oil & Gas was up by 0.14%, while Consumer Durables down by 2.47%, Capital Goods down by 1.17%, IT down by 1.14%, TECK down by 1.04%, Auto down by 1.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 0.72%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.36%, SBI up by 0.24% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.13%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 3.41%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.65%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.03%, Wipro down by 1.86% and Nestle down by 1.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, underlining the efforts being taken to boost growth of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the Union Minister of State for MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma has said that all arms of the Government are working in close synchronization to ensure that entrepreneurs having tech-focused enterprises do not face any bottlenecks in their ventures.

Further, describing entrepreneurs as the ‘wealth creators’ for the economy, Verma stated that his Ministry is engaged in continuous endeavours to ensure that technology enterprises have access to all the necessary resources required for their growth.The minister also emphasized upon the need for international cooperation between MSMEs of different nations. Besides, he said that the International Cooperation Division of the Ministry was facilitating interaction between Indian entrepreneurs and their counterparts in different countries.

The minister also noted that to encourage international cooperation between various countries and the MSMEs in the country, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) is implementing International Cooperation Scheme, a Central Sector Scheme. The scheme is in operation since its inception in 1996.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17103.95, down by 118.80 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 17076.55 and 17294.90. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 1.64%, JSW Steel up by 1.37%, Reliance Industries up by 0.68%, SBI Life up by 0.51% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.39%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 3.43%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.79%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.07%, Cipla down by 1.90% and Wipro down by 1.89% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng decreased 541.07 points or 2.47% to 21,404.88, Jakarta Composite lost 47.16 points or 0.67% to 7,002.53, Shanghai Composite declined 38.02 points or 1.17% to 3,212.24 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 22.11 points or 0.12% to 17,676.95. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 0.32 points or 0.01% to 2,729.98, Straits Times advanced 10.49 points or 0.31% to 3,410.19 and Nikkei 225 was up by 39.45 points or 0.14% to 28,149.84.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 9.39 points or 0.13% to 7,457.99, France’s CAC decreased 2.78 points or 0.04% to 6,552.99 and Germany’s DAX was down by 2.80 points or 0.02% to 14,270.99.