Local equities continue to sink in red

Indian bourses continued to trade in red in the afternoon session amid heavy selling witnessed in front line blue chip stocks. Feeble global cues dented the trading sentiments. Sentiments got hit as US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s signal that the central bank will raise interest rates further to battle inflation. Traders got worried as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed that the country's foreign exchange reserves fell $6.687 billion to $564.053 billion in the week ended August 19. In the previous week ended August 12, the reserves declined $2.238 billion to $570.74 billion. Domestic sentiment also dampened due to the depreciating rupee and FII outflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 51.12 crore on Friday, exchange data showed. The partially convertible rupee was at 80.08, down 24 paise against its previous close of 79.84. The market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 1260 shares on the gaining side against 2145 shares on the losing side while 200 shares remained unchanged. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58050.63, down by 783.24 points or 1.33% after trading in a range of 57367.47 and 58092.31. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.99%, while Small cap index was down by 0.69%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.32%, Energy up by 0.14% and Oil & Gas was up by 0.08%, while IT down by 3.36%, TECK down by 3.13%, Bankex down by 1.84%, Metal down by 1.79% and Realty was down by 1.35% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 0.92%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.80%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.49%, Asian Paints up by 0.22% and Ultratech Cement was up by 0.02%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 4.40%, Infosys down by 4.00%, Wipro down by 3.06%, HCL Tech down by 2.90% and TCS was down by 2.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that financial inclusion is a major step towards inclusive growth which ensures the overall economic development of the marginalised sections of the society. She said the success of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) since August 28, 2014 is reflected in terms of opening of over 46 crore bank accounts with deposit balance of Rs 1.74 lakh crore with its expanded coverage to 67 per cent rural or semi-urban areas as well as 56 per cent of women Jan Dhan account holders.

Sitharaman said continuation of PMJDY beyond 2018 saw a marked shift in approach to meet challenges and requirements of the emerging FI (financial inclusion) landscape in the country. There has been a shift in focus from 'every household' to 'every adult', with added emphasis on usage of accounts by enhancing Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) flows through these accounts, promoting digital payments through the use of RuPay cards, etc. She observed that the underlying pillars of PMJDY -- namely, banking the unbanked, securing the unsecured and funding the unfunded -- has made it possible to adopt multi-stakeholders' collaborative approach while leveraging technology for serving the unserved and underserved areas as well.

The minister further said the JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) pipeline created through account holders' consent-based linking of bank accounts with Aadhar and mobile numbers of the account holders, which is one of the important pillars of the financial inclusion ecosystem, has enabled instant DBT under various government welfare schemes to the eligible beneficiaries. The advantage of the architecture created under FI ecosystem came handy during the COVID-19 pandemic when it facilitated direct income support to farmers under PM-KISAN and transfer of ex-gratia payment to women PMJDY account holders under PM Garib Kalyan Package in a seamless and time-bound manner.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17332.95, down by 225.95 points or 1.29% after trading in a range of 17166.20 and 17343.20. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Britannia up by 1.79%, Nestle up by 0.83%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.73%, Tata Consumer Products up by 0.55% and Hindustan Unilever was up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 4.48%, Infosys down by 4.02%, Wipro down by 3.13%, HCL Tech down by 2.89% and TCS was down by 2.74% were the top losers.

Most of Asian markets were trading lower; Hang Seng decreased 164.48 points or 0.82% to 20,005.56, Nikkei 225 slipped 762.42 points or 2.66% to 27,878.96, Taiwan Weighted dropped 352.25 points or 2.31% to 14,926.19, Straits Times trembled 29.62 points or 0.91% to 3,219.91, KOSPI fell 54.14 points or 2.18% to 2,426.89 and Jakarta Composite was down by 46.91 points or 0.66% to 7,088.34.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 1.70 points or 0.05% to 3,237.92.