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In line with Asian peers, Indian equity benchmarks continued languishing in red as Europe's eastern flank stood on the brink of war after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine. Military vehicles including tanks were seen on the outskirts of Donetsk, the capital of one of two breakaway regions, and Putin signed treaties with leaders of the two breakaway regions giving Russia the right to build military bases. Continuing their selling spree, foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 2,261.9 crore in the Indian capital market on Monday, also impacted sentiments. On the global front, all Asian markets were trading lower as rising geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine triggered a sell-off in global equities. Back home, broader indices were bleeding badly with cut of over 1%, while selling turning out to be broad-based, stocks from Metal, telecom and TECK counters were the worst performers of the session. The market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 537 shares on the gaining side against 2706 shares on the losing side while 99 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56825.78, down by 857.81 points or 1.49% after trading in a range of 56394.85 and 57059.18. All 30 stocks were declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.22%, while Small cap index was down by 1.66%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 2.33%, Telecom down by 2.27%, TECK down by 1.89%, PSU down by 1.84% and Industrials was down by 1.83%, while there were no gainers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top losers on the Sensex were Tata Steel down by 3.81%, TCS down by 3.69%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.54%, SBI down by 2.54% and Dr. Reddy's Lab was down by 2.23%, while there were no gainers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the government wants a sustained recovery and the budget proposals on infrastructure building are an attempt to create the multiplier effect to help the economy.

She said the budget has been prepared at a time when the economy is coming out of the impact of the pandemic. She said ‘A sustained recovery is what we would want. The budget has growth revival as a priority along with messages for sustainability as a priority and on predictable tax regimen.’

Stating that technology has helped the government make payments to the affected people during the pandemic, she said it is also looking at how digital solutions can be deployed in the education and the farming sectors. She added the government wants to push innovation and the support to help the startups will continue.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16955.95, down by 250.70 points or 1.46% after trading in a range of 16843.80 and 17023.60. There were 2 stocks advancing against 48 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 0.46% and Bajaj Auto was up by 0.31%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.88%, TCS down by 3.68%, BPCL down by 2.98%, Tata Motors down by 2.62% and UPL down by 2.61% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were under selling pressure Taiwan Weighted dropped 252.20 points or 1.38% to 17,969.29, Hang Seng decreased 770.90 points or 3.19% to 23,399.17, Nikkei 225 slipped 461.26 points or 1.71% to 26,449.61, Shanghai Composite declined 46.71 points or 1.34% to 3,443.90, KOSPI fell 39.27 points or 1.43% to 2,704.53, Straits Times trembled 33.98 points or 0.99% to 3,402.38 and Jakarta Composite was down by 55.18 points or 0.8% to 6,847.79.

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