Bourses trade at day’s low points in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets traded at day’s low points in late afternoon session. Sentiments were cautious after Federal Reserve hiked rates by 75 basis points. The broader indices, BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading with cut of above two percent each. Huge selling in metal stocks dragged the markets lower. Traders were cautious after RBI Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao said that despite the improvement in asset quality, financial institutions, including banks, need to proactively undertake stress testing of loan books to examine their loss absorption limits and take steps to improve them wherever required. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed and European markets were trading lower amid concerns that higher U.S. interest rates could lead to more capital outflows from emerging markets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51547.10, down by 994.29 points or 1.89% after trading in a range of 51511.60 and 53142.50. There were 1 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 2.23%, while Small cap index was down by 2.61%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 4.54%, Telecom down by 3.24%, Realty down by 3.19%, Basic Materials down by 3.15% and Industrials was down by 2.93%, while there were no gainers on sectoral indices on the BSE.

The only gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 0.33%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 5.16%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.34%, Bharti Airtel down by 4.30%, Wipro down by 3.93% and Indusind Bank down by 3.78% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to boost future exports of hydrogen from India, Union power minister R K Singh said that the government has held discussions with a number of countries, including Japan and Germany. The minister also added that India is aiming to produce 20 million tonne (MT) of green hydrogen by 2030.

The minister also exuded confidence that India will emerge as a leader in green hydrogen. Meanwhile, India has signed a joint declaration of intent on Indo- German hydrogen task force with Germany. The agreement was signed between power minister Singh and Germany's minister for economic affairs and climate change in May 2022.

Under the said agreement, both the countries will establish an Indo-German green hydrogen task force to strengthen mutual cooperation in production, utilisation, storage and distribution of green hydrogen through building enabling frameworks for projects, regulations and standards, trade and joint research and development projects.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15378.10, down by 314.05 points or 2.00% after trading in a range of 15367.25 and 15863.15. There were 3 stocks advancing against 47 stocks declining on the index.

The few gainers on Nifty were Britannia up by 0.67%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.31% and Nestle up by 0.14%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 5.20%, ONGC down by 4.69%, Tata Motors down by 4.56%, Hindalco down by 4.42% and Tech Mahindra down by 4.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng decreased 462.78 points or 2.17% to 20,845.43, Taiwan Weighted dropped 160.64 points or 1% to 15,838.61, Shanghai Composite declined 20.03 points or 0.61% to 3,285.38 and Straits Times was down by 2.46 points or 0.08% to 3,103.39. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 4.03 points or 0.16% to 2,451.41, Jakarta Composite soared 43.28 points or 0.62% to 7,050.33 and Nikkei 225 was up by 105.04 points or 0.4% to 26,431.20.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 105.35 points or 1.45% to 7,168.06, France’s CAC decreased 98.03 points or 1.63% to 5,932.10 and Germany’s DAX was down by 280.12 points or 2.08% to 13,205.17.