Markets trade at day’s low levels in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets traded at day’s low levels in late afternoon session as traders were cautious ahead of upcoming US Federal Reserve meeting later tomorrow. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index also witnessed deep cut. Traders overlooked newly elected president of apex exporters body FIEO Ashwani Kumar’s statement that the country’s merchandise exports are expected to reach USD 450 billion by the end of this fiscal despite geo-political challenges like the Red Sea crisis. He said that the need of the hour is to address the Red Sea crisis challenges by ensuring the availability of marine insurance and rational increase in freight charges. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after the Bank of Japan hiked its benchmark interest rate for the first time in 17 years, ending a longstanding negative rate policy. European markets were trading higher before a US Federal Reserve meeting and after the Bank of Japan hiked interest rates for the first time since 2007. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 71970.33, down by 778.09 points or 1.07% after trading in a range of 71933.35 and 72490.09. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.32%, while Small cap index was down by 0.97%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were IT down by 2.49%, FMCG down by 2.22%, TECK down by 2.10%, Power down by 1.97% and Oil & Gas was down by 1.75%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 1.65%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.62%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.56% and Titan Company up by 0.11%. On the flip side, TCS down by 4.02%, Nestle down by 3.17%, Indusind Bank down by 2.92%, Wipro down by 2.68% and Infosys down by 2.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, on the first day of the five-day Steering Committee Meeting of the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE), Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India, Ajay Sood has pointed out that while hydrogen is not a very new technology, there is a need to work together to make it more economical and cleaner. The meeting is being convened in New Delhi, India during March 18 - 22, 2024.

Ajay Sood also emphasized on the importance of skill development and R&D in the sector and mentioned that besides the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, various other Ministries of the Government of India are also taking efforts for adoption of Green Hydrogen. The Principal Scientific Advisor highlighted that the major areas of work in the hydrogen value chain include five components, namely, Production, Storage, Transportation, Distribution & Consumption.

During the meeting, Additional Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Sudeep Jain also highlighted the importance and challenging nature of climate change. He emphasized the work, collaboration and partnership that would be required from academia and research institutes for facilitating energy transition and development of the hydrogen sector. He mentioned about the importance of moving away from grey hydrogen and bringing about a larger share of green hydrogen.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21807.95, down by 247.75 points or 1.12% after trading in a range of 21793.10 and 21978.30. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 1.52%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.08%, Hindalco up by 1.03%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.62% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.55%. On the flip side, TCS down by 4.18%, Tata Consumer down by 3.80%, BPCL down by 3.74%, Britannia down by 3.42% and Cipla down by 3.27% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 207.64 points or 1.26% to 16,529.48, KOSPI dropped 29.67 points or 1.12% to 2,656.17, Taiwan Weighted lost 22.65 points or 0.11% to 19,857.20 and Shanghai Composite was down by 22.17 points or 0.72% to 3,062.76. On the flip side, Straits Times rose 5.79 points or 0.18% to 3,177.72, Jakarta Composite gained 53.86 points or 0.74% to 7,356.31 and Nikkei 225 was up by 263.16 points or 0.66% to 40,003.60.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.81 points or 0.01% to 7,723.36, France’s CAC rose 6.82 points or 0.08% to 8,154.96 and Germany’s DAX was up by 26.3 points or 0.15% to 17,958.98.