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A continued heavy selling pushed Indian equity markets near their fresh intraday low points in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in deep red, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments were downbeat, amid a private report stating that private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investments in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan continued their downward trajectory when 2022 closed. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, deals totaled $5.39 billion across 42 announced and completed transactions in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to $20.07 billion across 79 transactions in the same period in 2021.

Adding more worries among traders, a study by market regulator SEBI showed that nine out of 10 individual traders in the equity F&O segment incurred net losses during both the years FY 2018-19 and FY 2021-22. There has been a significant increase of over 500 per cent in the number of individual traders in the equity F&O segment in FY 2021-22, as compared to FY 2018-19.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, even as Hong Kong's foreign trade deficit increased sharply in December from last year, as exports fell faster than imports amid a challenging external environment and disruptions to cross-boundary land transportation. The data from the Census and Statistics Department showed that the visible trade deficit rose to HK$51.646 billion from HK$32.753 billion in the same month last year. This was also much bigger than November's shortfall of HK$27.089 billion.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59311.51, down by 893.55 points or 1.48% after trading in a range of 59280.61 and 60166.90. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 1.78%, while Small cap index was down by 2.12%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.23% and Auto up by 0.22%, while Utilities down by 7.32%, Power down by 6.93%, Oil & Gas down by 6.12%, Energy down by 5.66% and Telecom down by 3.85% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 5.63%, ITC up by 1.90%, Sun Pharma up by 0.22%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.17% and HCL Tech. up by 0.08%. On the flip side, SBI down by 4.37%, Axis Bank down by 3.96%, ICICI Bank down by 3.88%, Reliance Industries down by 2.43% and Asian Paints down by 2.40% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) Executive Director -- Ajay Kumar Choudhary has said that digital currency will further bolster the digital economy, make payment system more efficient, reduce cost involved in physical cash management and also contribute to further financial inclusion. He said the RBI has already launched pilots of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in wholesale and retail segments last year. He said the CBDC is just a digital form of the physical currency and will have all its characteristics.

Asserting that the digital currency is aimed to compliment rather than replace the current forms of money, Choudhary said ‘it should not be construed as a step to replace any of the existing bouquet of payment which are already available with us.’ He said the key motivation for exploring the issuance of CBDC in India among others include moving to a digital economy, reduction in production and operation cost involved in physical cash management, which is huge even if suppose 10-15 per cent reduction, fostering financial inclusion, adding efficiency in the settlement system, boosting innovation in a cross-border payment space.

RBI Executive Director further said that supported by the-state-of-the-art payment system of India that is affordable and accessible, convenient, efficient, safe and secure, the CBDC can further bolster the digital economy, make the monetary and payment system more efficient and contribute to further financial inclusion. He noted that for future considerations, offline functionality forms is one of the fundamental considerations for the design of E-rupee as it is a defining characteristic of the physical currency.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17608.60, down by 283.35 points or 1.58% after trading in a range of 17603.00 and 17884.75. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 6.45%, Tata Motors up by 5.48%, Dr Reddy's Laboratories up by 3.00%, ITC up by 2.02% and Cipla up by 1.29%. On the flip side, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone by 17.29%, Adani Enterprises down by 8.85%, SBI down by 4.40%, Axis Bank down by 3.98% and ICICI Bank down by 3.93% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; KOSPI increased 15.37 points or 0.62% to 2,484.02, Straits Times rose 17.45 points or 0.52% to 3,394.64, Nikkei 225 surged 19.81 points or 0.07% to 27,382.56, Jakarta Composite gained 51.83 points or 0.76% to 6,916.65 and Hang Seng advanced 65.42 points or 0.29% to 22,632.20.

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