Dalal Street remains grapple with sell off

Weak trade persisted in Indian equity markets, as the Dalal Street being grappled with heavy sell off at Metal, IT and TECK counters. Domestic sentiments were pessimistic, amid a private report stating that India’s economic growth may show lower than 5 per cent print in the December quarter of fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23) on a normalising base even though many high frequency indicators signal a sequential improvement in performance. Besides, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted rising debt vulnerabilities in many developing countries and sought views from G20 member nations on 'multilateral coordination' for managing the burden. The street took a note of a private report stating that high temperatures across parts of India have pushed electricity demand to near-record levels in recent weeks, triggering worries about yet another summer squeeze on power supply.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower, as Japan's leading index declined to a two-year low in December, as initially estimated. The final data from the Cabinet Office showed that the leading index, which measures the future economic activity, dropped to 97.2 in December from 97.7 in the previous month. The score came in line with the preliminary estimate released on February 7 and reached the lowest since December 2020, when the reading was 96.5.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59072.66, down by 391.27 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 58937.64 and 59441.13. There were 9 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining, while one stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 1.33%, while Small cap index was down by 1.37%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.59% and Realty up by 0.29%, while Metal down by 2.38%, IT down by 2.20%, TECK down by 2.19%, Auto down by 1.99% and Telecom down by 1.81% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.16%, ICICI Bank up by 1.05%, SBI up by 0.78%, HDFC up by 0.75% and HDFC Bank up by 0.25%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.46%, Tata Motors down by 2.69%, Infosys down by 2.60%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.22% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.16% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, calling for equal stake with equal partnership and responsibility by Industry to sustain the Start-Ups boom, Union Minister Jitendra Singh has said that the Government will promote Industry-driven Start-Ups to create wealth and jobs. The Minister said that Start-Ups will become sustainable, if Industry from the very beginning will identify the theme/subject/product and invest matching equity with the Government. The Minister assured that funds will not be a constraint under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government to promote the ‘Innovation Eco-System’ in the country.

Further, giving the example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of an Atma Nirbhar Bharat, where India’s vaccine strategy brought together pharma, industry and academia in a partnership with an eye on meeting the current as well as possible future challenges, Singh said that the idea behind initiatives like this is to have a sustainable partnership in the long run and provide a sustainable source of livelihood to India’s youth. He added that the Government of India, led by Prime Minister Modi, is encouraging industrial outreach by extending all possible support.

The Minister also pointed out that last year he had launched Single National Portal ‘BioRRAP’ for Biotech researchers and Start-Ups and also to cater to all those seeking regulatory approval for biological research & development activity in the country and thus offer a huge relief for ‘Ease of Science as well as Ease of Business’. He asserted that India is poised to become a Global Bio-manufacturing Hub and will figure among the top 5 countries of the world by 2025.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17334.25, down by 131.55 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 17300.90 and 17451.60. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.10%, ICICI Bank up by 1.07%, SBI up by 0.88%, HDFC up by 0.69% and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone up by 0.66%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 7.57%, Bajaj Auto down by 5.10%, Tata Steel down by 3.33%, UPL down by 3.33% and Eicher Motors down by 2.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading lower; Hang Seng declined 141.37 points or 0.71% to 19,868.67, Shanghai Composite weakened 11.25 points or 0.34% to 3,255.91, KOSPI dropped 20.97 points or 0.87% to 2,402.64, Straits Times fell 11.56 points or 0.35% to 3,270.74, Jakarta Composite plunged 23.8 points or 0.35% to 6,832.78 and Nikkei 225 slipped 29.52 points or 0.11% to 27,423.96.