Indices continue to witness weakness in late morning deals

Domestic equity indices continued to witness weakness and were trading lower with cut of around half percent in late morning deals as market participants indulged in reducing their positions. Meanwhile, broader indices were also trading in red with BSE Small cap index and Mid cap index falling in the range of 0.25-0.50%. Rising crude oil prices weighed on the domestic sentiments.  Traders were cautious after U.S. President Donald Trump accused India and China of being the primary funders of Russia's war in Ukraine through their continued purchase of Russian oil. All the sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in red led by Realty, IT, TECK, Auto and Capital Goods.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red following weak cues from the US markets overnight. Back home, in the stock specific development, Bajaj Electricals soared after its board approved a plan to acquire the Morphy Richards brand along with associated intellectual property rights from Ireland-based Glen Electric for Rs. 146 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81700.97, down by 401.13 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 81607.84 and 82045.47. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.50%, while Small cap index down by 0.27%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 1.65%, IT down by 0.82%, TECK down by 0.79%, Auto down by 0.78% and Capital Goods down by 0.68%, while there were no gainers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.65%, Asian Paints up by 0.98%, Power Grid up by 0.90%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.80% and HCL Technologies up by 0.67%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.88%, Bharat Electronics down by 1.88%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.85%, HDFC Bank down by 1.42% and ICICI Bank down by 1.08% were the top losers. 

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has expressed confidence that India would secure a position among the top 10 on the Global Innovation Index in next three years. He said that the country’s ranking on the Index has gone up from 91 to 38 in the last decade. He has emphasised the contribution of Startup India scheme in this growth. The Startup India scheme is the Indian government's flagship initiative launched in 2016 to promote innovation and create a robust startup ecosystem, transforming India from a job-seeking to a job-creating nation.

Highlighting the impact of Startup India scheme, he said that the country now has 120 unicorns whose combined market value is over $350 million against four unicorns in 2014. He added that on an average, 17,000 startups have been set up annually. Further, 52% of total startups are in tier-II and tier-III cities and 48% are initiated by women. He noted that the country’s startup ecosystem has employed 17.90 lakh people. 

He also noted that a fund of funds of Rs 10,000 crore has been created to help startups. Moreover, to promote startups, the maximum loan limit has been increased from Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore, and various tax concessions have been given. Also, he has urged industry leaders to invest in startups, saying that one of them may turn into a unicorn one day and increase your wealth. He highlighted that Gujarat has been leading the country in the startup sector for the last four years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25055.45, down by 114.05 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 25027.45 and 25149.85. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 1.63%, Asian Paints up by 0.98%, Power Grid up by 0.87%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.74% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.70%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.95%, Bharat Electronics down by 1.90%, Tata Motors down by 1.88%, Wipro down by 1.82% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 51.4 points or 0.2% to 26,195.97, Jakarta Composite plunged 3.21 points or 0.04% to 8,121.99, KOSPI dropped 17.16 points or 0.49% to 3,469.03 and Straits Times fell 11.75 points or 0.27% to 4,290.92. However, Nikkei 225 surged 55.34 points or 0.12% to 45,549.00, Shanghai Composite strengthened 29.65 points or 0.77% to 3,851.48 and Hang Seng advanced 317.88 points or 1.22% to 26,477.00.