Markets come off from day’s high in late afternoon session

Indian markets came off from day’s high in late afternoon session. Weakness in select banking and Metal shares dragged key gauges lower, while buying in IT stocks helped markets to trade near neutral lines. Gains got trimmed even after Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth said that Indian financial system is well protected and regulated despite the daunting global financial situation. In scrip specific, Mankind Pharma has debuted at Rs 1300.00 on the BSE, up by 220 points or 20.37% from its issue price of Rs 1080. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as Chinese trade data disappointed, and investors awaited key U.S. inflation numbers due later in the week for clues on the Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates. European markets were trading lower with Sweden's SBB leading declines after delaying its dividend payment while investors remained wary ahead of crucial upcoming U.S. economic data releases.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61802.31, up by 38.06 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 61654.94 and 62027.51. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.02%, while Small cap index was down by 0.29%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.75%, Auto up by 0.50%, Energy up by 0.30%, IT up by 0.22% and TECK was up by 0.22%, while Utilities down by 0.95%, PSU down by 0.94%, Power down by 0.69%, FMCG down by 0.62% and Realty was down by 0.50% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 1.17%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.95%, Axis Bank up by 0.86%, HDFC up by 0.84% and Tata Motors up by 0.76%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.95%, SBI down by 1.49%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.42%, Power Grid down by 0.72% and Sun Pharma down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to further develop the financial sector, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that regulators should maintain a constant vigil as ensuring ‘financial sector stability is a shared responsibility’ of the regulators. She said regulators must take appropriate and timely action to mitigate any vulnerability and strengthen financial stability.

Finance Minister further noted that regulators should adopt a focused approach to reduce the compliance burden further and ensure a streamlined and efficient regulatory environment. The progress achieved in this regard shall be reviewed by the Union Finance Minister with each regulator in June 2023.

While continuing her suggestion list, Sitharaman said that the regulators need to be proactive and ensure cyber-security preparedness of the information technology systems to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks, protect sensitive financial data, and maintain overall system integrity, thus safeguarding the stability and resilience of the Indian financial ecosystem. Besides, regulators should conduct a special drive to facilitate the settlement of unclaimed deposits and claims in the financial sector across all segments, such as banking deposits, shares and dividends, mutual funds, insurance, etc.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18270.35, up by 5.95 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 18229.65 and 18344.20. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divi's Lab up by 2.64%, Coal India up by 1.35%, Indusind Bank up by 1.26%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.07% and Axis Bank up by 0.98%. On the flip side, UPL down by 2.99%, ITC down by 1.90%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.40%, SBI down by 1.39% and JSW Steel down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng declined 429.45 points or 2.16% to 19,867.58, Shanghai Composite weakened 37.33 points or 1.11% to 3,357.67, Straits Times fell 17.55 points or 0.54% to 3,240.11 and KOSPI was down by 3.15 points or 0.13% to 2,510.06. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite gained 13.23 points or 0.2% to 6,782.86, Taiwan Weighted added 28.13 points or 0.18% to 15,727.70 and Nikkei 225 was up by 292.94 points or 1% to 29,242.82.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 16.54 points or 0.21% to 7,761.84, France’s CAC fell 46.38 points or 0.62% to 7,394.53 and Germany’s DAX was down by 37.65 points or 0.24% to 15,915.18.