Markets continue to trade lower in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued to trade lower in volatile trading session tracing weak global cues. Selling pressure in metal sector’s stocks kept markets lower. Investors fretted about the potential for further Federal Reserve tightening and the effect on the economy. Markets participants were keenly watching out for Index of Industrial production (IIP) or Industrial growth data. Adani Group firms remained in focus as MSCI has cut the weightings of four of the conglomerate’s listed firms, including flagship Adani Enterprises, in its indexes after reassessing the number of shares that are freely traded. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red amid much uncertainty about where inflation and interest rates are headed. European markets were trading lower as investors assess the economic outlook and the potential for further monetary policy tightening from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60663.67, down by 142.55 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 60501.74 and 60774.14. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.01%, Realty up by 0.84%, Capital Goods up by 0.65%, Industrials up by 0.57% and Auto was up by 0.34%, while Metal down by 1.55%, Utilities down by 1.42%, Power down by 1.13%, Energy down by 0.67% and FMCG was down by 0.44% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.81%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.68%, SBI up by 0.58%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.55% and Power Grid up by 0.54%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 2.99%, Tata Steel down by 2.25%, NTPC down by 1.05%, Reliance Industries down by 0.94% and ITC down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s national accreditation system under the Quality Council of India (QCI) has been ranked 5th in the world in the recent Global Quality Infrastructure Index (GQII) 2021. The GQII ranks the 184 economies in the world on the basis of the quality infrastructure (QI). India’s overall QI system ranking continues to be in the Top 10 at the 10th position, with the standardization system (under BIS) at 9th and the metrology system (under NPL-CSIR) at 21st position in the world.

The GQII measures the relative development of countries’ QI. A formula calculates a score for each country based on its position in the sub-rankings for metrology, standards and accreditation. Geographically, the top 25 QI systems are mainly located in Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, with some exceptions, such as India (10th), Brazil (13th), Australia (14th), Turkey (16th), Mexico (18th) and South Africa (20th).

QI is the technical backbone for international trade, with metrology, standardization, accreditation and conformity assessment services providing reliability and trust between trading partners. In India, the National Physical Laboratory under the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (NPL-CSIR) is the national metrology institute, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the national standards body and the constituent national accreditation boards under Quality Council of India support are the custodians of the national accreditation system.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17853.30, down by 40.15 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 17801.00 and 17876.95. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 1.77%, UPL up by 1.21%, Adani Ports up by 1.06%, Cipla up by 0.97% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.92%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 2.97%, Hindalco down by 2.82%, Tata Steel down by 2.29%, Adani Enterprises down by 1.49% and Coal India down by 1.10% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng declined 433.94 points or 2.05% to 21,190.42, Jakarta Composite plunged 17.04 points or 0.25% to 6,880.33, Taiwan Weighted lost 12.06 points or 0.08% to 15,586.65, KOSPI dropped 11.79 points or 0.48% to 2,469.73 and Shanghai Composite was down by 9.71 points or 0.3% to 3,260.67. On the other side, Straits Times rose 5.42 points or 0.16% to 3,364.90 and Nikkei 225 was up by 86.63 points or 0.31% to 27,670.98.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 20.16 points or 0.26% to 7,890.99, France’s CAC fell 21.56 points or 0.3% to 7,166.80 and Germany’s DAX was down by 79.82 points or 0.52% to 15,443.60.