Bourses slip into red in late afternoon session

Indian markets slipped into red in late afternoon session ahead of weekly F&O expiry. Markets came under pressure due to sudden selling in banking counters. As for broader indices, Small cap index remained in green, while BSE Mid cap index continued to trade in red. Traders were cautious as Fed's aggressive battle against inflation could tip the economy into recession, and recent turmoil in the banking sector, sparked by failures of SVB Financial Group and Signature Bank, have exacerbated those fears. Sector wise, steel stocks remained in focuse as Icra in its latest report has said that it revised its outlook for domestic steel demand to 7-8 per cent for the next fiscal. Earlier, it had estimated the demand to grow in the range of 6-7 per cent.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as traders reacted to the US Fed's decision to raise interest rate by 25 basis points and signaled another rate hike despite recent turmoil in the banking industry. European markets were trading lower after the US Federal Reserve hiked borrowing costs despite banking-sector turmoil.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58103.31, down by 111.28 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 57838.85 and 58396.17. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.24%, while Small cap index was up by 0.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.78%, Utilities up by 0.77%, FMCG up by 0.50%, Telecom up by 0.44% and Metal was up by 0.34%, while IT down by 0.82%, Realty down by 0.61%, TECK down by 0.56%, PSU down by 0.47% and Capital Goods was down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 1.32%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.16%, Tata Motors up by 1.03%, ITC up by 1.03% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.63%, HCL Tech down by 1.48%, Infosys down by 1.18%, Reliance Industries down by 1.06% and Wipro down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, calling for extended collaboration in Biotech StartUps and Vaccine Development with Public Private Partnership for Global Good, Union Minister Jitendra Singh has said that India is fast emerging as the world's major bio-economy and over the last few years, it has grown by leaps and bounds when it comes to innovation and technology.

The Minister added that the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in Ministry of Science & Technology has through ‘Mission COVID Suraksha’, delivered four vaccines, augmented the manufacturing of Covaxin, and created necessary infrastructure for smooth development of future vaccines, so that the country is pandemic ready.

Singh further underlined that the Indian vaccine market, which has carved out a place for itself at the global level, is expected to reach a valuation of Rs 252 billion by 2025. The Minister also pointed out that recently, DBT signed a tripartite MoU with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and IAVI on February, 24, 2022 for a period of five years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17129.50, down by 22.40 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 17045.30 and 17205.40. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 1.50%, Nestle up by 1.22%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.12%, ITC up by 1.02% and Tata Motors up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.69%, HCL Tech down by 1.47%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.43%, Infosys down by 1.19% and Reliance Industries down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Hang Seng advanced 458.21 points or 2.29% to 20,049.64, Taiwan Weighted added 103.49 points or 0.65% to 15,863.95, Shanghai Composite strengthened 20.9 points or 0.64% to 3,286.65 and KOSPI was up by 7.52 points or 0.31% to 2,424.48. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 4.37 points or 0.14% to 3,216.61and Nikkei 225 was down by 47 points or 0.17% to 27,419.61.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 38.68 points or 0.51% to 7,528.16, France’s CAC fell 16.77 points or 0.24% to 7,114.35 and Germany’s DAX was down by 26.03 points or 0.17% to 15,190.16.