Shares trade with deep cuts; Asian markets mostly decline

The domestic equity barometers continued to trade with steep losses in mid-morning trade. The Nifty was trading below the 16,200 mark. At 11:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 976.33 points or 1.77% to 54,126.35. The Nifty 50 index lost 299.65 points or 1.82% to 16,198.40.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 2.35% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 1.46%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 914 shares rose and 2204 shares fell. A total of 128 shares were unchanged.

The continued escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war, soaring oil prices and continued FIIs selling puts a significant headwind on the economy by dampening growth prospects. FIIs were net sellers Rs 6,645 crore while DIIs were net buyers Rs 4,799 crore yesterday.

Services PMI:

India's services sector output increased to 51.8 in February from 51.5 in January, pointing to a moderate rate of expansion, as per a report by IHS Markit. Greater bookings, better demand conditions and the retreat of the pandemic drove this moderate expansion.

The composite PMI output rose to 53.5 in February from 53.0 in January, signaling a solid rate of expansion that was nonetheless below its long-run average, the IHS Markit stated.

Economy:

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has called for increasing India's share in global trade to 10% and taking India's share of exports in GDP to about 25%. Addressing the closing session of the Post-Budget Webinar on 'Make in India for the World', Goyal said these are ambitious targets, but doable.

He said other countries are also talking of programmes very similar to AatmaNirbhar Bharat. Goyal called for taking India among the top three nations in Global Services Trade.

Stating that the government is looking at a more liberal regulatory regime for the Drones sector barring the Defence systems, he said that the Industry should aim to make India become the manufacturing hub of Drones.

He called for integrating quality in full value chain and said it should not just come into picture once the final product is made. Underlining the need to develop technical skills of tomorrow for the industry, the Minister called for the need to reorient academic courses to make it relevant to the "needs of today".

Stocks in Spotlight:

Angel One rose 1.26% to Rs 1318.40. The brokerage said that its client base rose 5% to 8.76 million in February 2022 as against 8.34 million in January 2022. The company's client base surged 133.6% YoY from 3.75 million in February 2021.

John Cockerill India added 2.73% to Rs 1605.30 after the company received supply order exceeding Rs 1,000 crore from ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India.

Intellect Design Arena gained 2.45% to Rs 672.55 after the company said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has chosen Intellect to implement the upgraded version of the Cloud Native Intellect Quantum Core Banking solution to power the next stage of their digital transformation agenda.

Global Markets:

Most Asian stocks slipped on Friday as investors remain on edge over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Europe's largest nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine came under attack from Russian shelling early Friday, Ukrainian officials reportedly said.

Ukraine reportedly told the International Atomic Energy Agency the fire has not affected 'essential' equipment, and that there had been no change reported in radiation levels. The reactors are being protected by robust containment structures and are being safely shut down, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm reportedly said in a statement, which added that the department activated its Nuclear Incident Response.

U.S. stocks churned lower on Thursday, led to the downside by tech sector, as action in the energy and bond markets slowed and investors monitored the war in Ukraine.

Traders also monitored comments from Federal Reserve officials, including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's testimony to the Senate Banking Committee for his second day of Congressional testimony this week. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said Thursday that the war in Ukraine intensified the need for the Fed to raise rates.

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