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Indian bourses extended their losses in afternoon session with Sensex and Nifty trading down by 274 and 74 points, respectively. Sentiments were fragile with Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao’s statement that the central bank could lose control over the money supply and inflation management if cryptocurrency is allowed in the country. Rao also said India's case for issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) may not be strong as there are capital controls. Continuous foreign fund outflows in the capital market also impacted traders’ sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) stood as net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 1,585.55 crore on Thursday, according to the exchange data. On the global front, all Asian markets were under pressure as investors assess risks associated with the new omicron Covid variant and look ahead to key inflation data in the U.S.

Back home, broader indices were outperforming the benchmarks, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.08 per cent and 0.66 per cent, respectively. In scrip specific developments, Bajaj Electricals surged as the company's board approved a proposal to consider corporate structuring and Siemens jumped on the back of robust order book and future growth plans.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58532.91, down by 274.22 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 58495.12 and 58850.24. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.08%, while Small cap index was up by 0.66%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.77%, Industrials up by 0.66%, Power up by 0.63%, Capital Goods up by 0.44%, Consumer Discretionary was up by 0.35%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.17%, Energy down by 0.44%, Bankex down by 0.41%, TECK down by 0.40%, FMCG was down by 0.36% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 3.04%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.40%, Sun Pharma Inds up by 0.93%, TCS up by 0.27% and Bajaj Auto was up by 0.19%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 3.05%, HDFC down by 1.67%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.26%, Axis Bank down by 1.09% and Tech Mahindra was down by 1.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers has said that the government has accorded approval to eight companies under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme to promote domestic manufacturing of medical devices. The setting up of these eight plants will lead to a total committed investment of Rs 260.4 crore by the companies and employment generation of about 2,599. The commercial production of these plants is projected to commence from April 1, 2023, onwards.

With this the total applications approved under both rounds aggregate to 21 applicants with committed investment of Rs 1,059.33 crore and employment generation of about 6,411. The setting of these plants will make the country self-reliant to a large extent in the specified target segments in the medical devices sector. The establishment of eight plants would lead to a total committed investment of about Rs 151.12 crore by the companies and employment generation of about 1,951.

With an objective to boost domestic manufacturing, attract large investment in the medical device sector, the Department of Pharmaceuticals had launched a PLI scheme to ensure a level playing field for the domestic manufacturers of medical devices with a total financial outlay of Rs 3,420 crore for the period 2020-21 to 2027-28.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17442.85, down by 74.00 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 17433.45 and 17534.35. There were 16 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 3.09%, Grasim Industries up by 1.63%, Adani Ports up by 1.63%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.43% and Sun Pharma was up by 0.87%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 3.04%, HDFC down by 1.66%, Divi's Lab down by 1.61%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.30% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was down by 1.12% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Taiwan Weighted dropped 87.86 points or 0.49% to 17,826.26, KOSPI fell 19.34 points or 0.64% to 3,010.23, Jakarta Composite lost 25.48 points or 0.38% to 6,618.45, Shanghai Composite declined 13.58 points or 0.37% to 3,659.46, Hang Seng decreased 195.19 points or 0.8% to 24,059.67, Straits Times trembled 8.97 points or 0.29% to 3,133.48 and Nikkei 225 was down by 287.70 points or 1% to 28,437.77.

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