Bourses continue sluggish trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their sluggish trade in late afternoon session on the back of persistent selling pressure in IT shares and negative global cues. However, the broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading higher with gains of over half a percent each. In stock specific development, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) remained in focused due to financial results for the March quarter later in the day. Sentiments remained down-beat after private report stated that India's retail inflation likely sped up to a 16-month high of 6.35% in March, well above the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance band for a third straight month, in part due to a sustained rise in food prices.

On the global front, all Asian markets were trading lower after the Federal Reserve indicated it might raise interest rates more aggressively to cool U.S. inflation and President Emmanuel Macron emerged from the first round of France's election facing a challenge from the far right. European markets were trading mostly in red as surging bond yields slammed technology shares and volatility gripped French blue-chip stocks on forecast of a tight race between President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in the final round of voting.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59208.42, down by 238.76 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 58945.08 and 59355.76. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.63%, while Small cap index was up by 0.60%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 3.09%, Power up by 3.06%, Oil & Gas up by 2.33%, Energy up by 1.77% and Realty was up by 1.00%, while IT down by 1.32%, TECK down by 1.20%, Capital Goods down by 0.72%, Consumer Durables down by 0.27% and Telecom was down by 0.16% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.36%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.09%, NTPC up by 0.92%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.45% and ITC up by 0.45%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 2.57%, Infosys down by 2.41%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.04%, Wipro down by 2.03% and Asian Paints down by 1.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim of creating an innovation culture and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country, The Union Cabinet has approved continuation of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), till March 2023. This will be done by AIM via its various programs.

The objectives of the AIM are to create and promote an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship across the country via interventions at school, university, research institutions, MSME and industry levels. The AIM has focused on both infrastructure creation and institution building. As evident from these examples, the AIM has worked on integrating innovation ecosystem both nationally and globally.

Over the past years, the AIM has worked to provide an institutional mechanism to integrate innovation activities across the country. With the cabinet’s approval to continue, AIM assumes an even greater responsibility to create an inclusive innovation ecosystem where engaging in innovation and entrepreneurship get increasingly easier.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17741.35, down by 43.00 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 17653.55 and 17779.05. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 2.80%, Adani Ports up by 1.73%, UPL up by 1.62%, JSW Steel up by 1.55% and Apollo Hospital up by 1.48%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 2.46%, Infosys down by 2.40%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.14%, Wipro down by 1.98% and SBI Life down by 1.53% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower, Jakarta Composite lost 7.05 points or 0.1% to 7,203.79, KOSPI fell 7.29 points or 0.27% to 2,693.10, Straits Times trembled 18.53 points or 0.55% to 3,364.75, Shanghai Composite declined 84.72 points or 2.61% to 3,167.13, Nikkei 225 slipped 164.28 points or 0.61% to 26,821.52, Taiwan Weighted dropped 236.17 points or 1.37% to 17,048.37 and Hang Seng was down by 663.71 points or 3.03% to 21,208.30.

European markets were trading mostly in red, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 34.38 points or 0.45% to 7,635.18 and Germany’s DAX was down by 116.14 points or 0.81% to 14,167.53. On the other hands, France’s CAC was up by 7.79 points or 0.12% to 6,556.01.