Bourses continue to show sluggish trend in late afternoon session

Key benchmark indices continued to show a sluggish trend in late afternoon session amid weak global cues. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index are also trading with cut of above half a percent. In stock specific development, Bajaj Finance was the biggest loser among the Sensex 30 stocks despite the company has reported 79.67% rise in its net profit at Rs 2,419.51 crore for fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2022 as compared to Rs 1,346.64 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Traders took note of report that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured investors that the government will address any possible pain points to encourage investments in the country.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red on concerns of elevated inflation and the potential economic impact from the widely expected U.S. monetary tightening continued to weigh on investors as they digest the latest earnings news. Lingering worries also remain about the Covid-19 lockdowns in China and the ongoing war in Ukraine. European markets were trading higher even after global slowdown and pain-points from the war in eastern Europe.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56880.72, down by 475.89 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 56584.04 and 57079.03. 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 0.71%, while Small cap index was down by 0.70%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom down by 1.52%, Bankex down by 1.29%, PSU down by 1.28%, Oil & Gas down by 0.99%, Power down by 0.90%, while there were no gainers on the sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.01%, Asian Paints up by 0.78%, Reliance Industries up by 0.39% and TCS up by 0.35%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 6.11%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.22%, Wipro down by 2.18%, SBI down by 2.13% and ICICI Bank down by 2.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a step towards encouraging investments in the country, Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman has assured investors that the government will address any possible pain points. The Finance Minister encouraged constant engagement with investors to understand and address their concerns. Sitharaman also said that she is open to receive suggestions, understand pain points and offer necessary redressal wherever possible.

Sitharaman also noted that in order to promote a robust StartUp ecosystem in India, DPIIT (GoI) has set up a very proactive StartUp cell and encouraged those interested in Indian StartUps to engage with DPIIT (GoI). FM also underlined various government initiatives focused on women-led development such as schemes for Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Direct Benefit Transfer which have especially benefited rural women, and others such as Mudra Yojana that have empowered women entrepreneurs.

Besides, Finance Minister said that India, in pursuit of digitization, has announced introduction of Digital Currency by 2023. She also elucidated that Financial Inclusion (FI) will not be the sole purpose of this as India is already marching ahead to greater FI, achieved through JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trinity.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17040.45, down by 160.35 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 16958.45 and 17110.70. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 3.57%, Tata Steel up by 0.93%, Asian Paints up by 0.84%, JSW Steel up by 0.51% and TCS up by 0.27%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 6.25%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.59%, ICICI Bank down by 2.33%, Apollo Hospital down by 2.29% and SBI down by 2.24% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Taiwan Weighted dropped 341.44 points or 2.05% to 16,303.35, Nikkei 225 slipped 313.48 points or 1.17% to 26,386.63, Jakarta Composite lost 35.39 points or 0.49% to 7,196.76, KOSPI fell 29.25 points or 1.1% to 2,639.06 and Straits Times was down by 3.59 points or 0.11% to 3,318.46. On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 11.65 points or 0.06% to 19,946.36 and Shanghai Composite was up by 71.85 points or 2.49% to 2,958.28.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 13.87 points or 0.19% to 7,400.06, France’s CAC increased 2.16 points or 0.03% to 6,416.73 and Germany’s DAX was up by 1.47 points or 0.01% to 13,757.87.