Bourses continue to reel under selling pressure in late afternoon session

Indian markets continued to reel under selling pressure in late afternoon session mainly pressurized by IT counter. Traders were cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's interest rate decision. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched a Financial Inclusion Dashboard ‘Antardrishti’. As the name suggests, the dashboard will provide the required insight to assess and monitor the progress of financial inclusion by capturing relevant parameters. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as weak U.S. data rekindled growth worries and the Reserve Bank of Australia kept the door open to further tightening after unexpectedly raising its key interest rate. European markets were trading mostly in red as worries of further interest rate hikes by major central banks in the face of slowing economic growth countered support from healthcare giant Novo Nordisk.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62608.40, down by 179.07 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 62554.21 and 62851.55. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.04%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.09%, Auto up by 1.02%, Industrials up by 0.47%, Capital Goods up by 0.32% and Healthcare was up by 0.15%, while IT down by 1.91%, TECK down by 1.75%, Metal down by 0.44%, Oil & Gas down by 0.28% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.27% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 2.76%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.55%, Axis Bank up by 1.54%, Tata Motors up by 1.49% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.34%, Infosys down by 2.30%, TCS down by 1.88%, HCL Tech down by 1.52% and Wipro down by 1.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in efforts to further deepen financial inclusion in the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched a Financial Inclusion Dashboard ‘Antardrishti’. As the name suggests, the dashboard will provide the required insight to assess and monitor the progress of financial inclusion by capturing relevant parameters. 

This facility will also enable to gauge the extent of financial exclusion at granular levels across the country so that such areas can be addressed. The dashboard, presently intended for internal use in the RBI, will further facilitate greater financial inclusion through a multi-stakeholder approach.

The Reserve Bank has been promoting financial inclusion through various policy initiatives. To measure the extent of financial inclusion, RBI had constructed the Financial Inclusion (FI) Index in 2021, based on three dimensions of financial inclusion, viz., Access, Usage and Quality.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18554.55, down by 39.30 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 18531.60 and 18618.05. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 2.64%, Grasim Industries up by 1.92%, Tata Motors up by 1.57%, Axis Bank up by 1.56% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.41%, Infosys down by 2.26%, TCS down by 1.88%, HCL Tech down by 1.51% and ONGC down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 surged 289.35 points or 0.89% to 32,506.78, Taiwan Weighted added 47.23 points or 0.28% to 16,761.66 and Jakarta Composite was up by 10.88 points or 0.16% to 6,644.32. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 4.34 points or 0.14% to 3,184.67, Hang Seng declined 9.22 points or 0.05% to 19,099.28 and Shanghai Composite was down by 37.1 points or 1.16% to 3,195.34.

European markets were trading mostly in red, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 28.51 points or 0.38% to 7,571.48 and France’s CAC was down by 5.87 points or 0.08% to 7,195.04. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was up by 4.54 points or 0.03% to 15,968.43.