Sensex, Nifty under grip of bears in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks were under a grip of bears in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in deep red, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Traders were cautious, as the World Bank has said that introduction of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) could potentially pose risks to privacy, increase responsibilities of the central bank, and may also lead to currency substitution through cross-border transactions. Besides, with Covid cases witnessing a rise in the national capital, traders and business owners are apprehensive that their pandemic-hit businesses might be engulfed in another wave even before recovering from losses over the past two years.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after China's economy expanded more than expected in the first quarter. The data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that gross domestic product grew at a pace of 4.8 percent on a yearly basis in the first quarter.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57140.33, down by 1198.60 points or 2.05% after trading in a range of 57047.00 and 57420.80. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.25%, while Small cap index was down by 0.99%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.25% and FMCG up by 0.25%, while IT down by 4.58%, TECK down by 4.50%, Telecom down by 1.74%, Bankex down by 1.69% and Realty down by 1.40% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 4.16%, Tata Steel up by 1.88%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.90%, Nestle up by 0.74% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.08%, Tech Mahindra down by 5.30%, HDFC down by 3.89%, HDFC Bank down by 3.76% and Wipro down by 3.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has asked the domestic pharmaceutical industry to strengthen its generic medicine sector and ensure better linkage between input and output of products to become self-reliant. He also asked the industry to plan for a long-term to tackle challenged related to global supply chain.

Goyal said ‘the phenomenal growth that we have seen in the last ten years should be carried forward to ensure that we become self-sufficient. Global supply chains are becoming more and more difficult to predict. The challenges are getting unimaginably serious.’ In this situation, he said ‘it is extremely important that we focus not only on our strengths in the generic sector but also ensure our backward and forward linkages. We should plan for the long term to become more and more self-sufficient and with that we will go to the world with the confidence of a powerful nation, engaging with the world on equal terms for a better future for our industry.’ He added that India's aim should be to become the healthcare custodian of the world.

Stressing on the need for mutual support within the industry, the minister said ‘every country does protect its core industry and I feel our core industry is the pharma industry’. He also mentioned government measures like the production-linked incentive scheme for the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredient and medical devices and said ‘I do hope that many of the manufacturers in the pharma industry are taking advantage of the scheme.’ He said it is important that the industry tries product development and break new grounds in medical research. He also said that the government's efforts towards having free-trade agreements with different countries will create pathways for easier approvals of Indian pharma products across the globe.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17159.30, down by 316.35 points or 1.81% after trading in a range of 17129.55 and 17237.75. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 4.09%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.62%, Tata Steel up by 1.90%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.81% and ONGC up by 1.29%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.10%, Tech Mahindra down by 5.34%, Apollo Hospital Ent. down by 4.04%, HDFC down by 3.87% and HDFC Bank down by 3.74% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 330.32 points or 1.22% to 26,762.87, Taiwan Weighted dropped 70.27 points or 0.41% to 16,933.91, Shanghai Composite declined 24.89 points or 0.78% to 3,186.35 and Straits Times trembled 23.16 points or 0.69% to 3,312.69. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 4.48 points or 0.17% to 2,700.54, Jakarta Composite soared 28.43 points or 0.39% to 7,263.96.