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Markets continued to languish into negative territory with massive losses as market-participants continued to book profits in absence of any positive trigger. At day’s low, Sensex was trading below psychologically level of 54600 and Nifty below 16300 mark. Traders were taking cautious approach ahead of inflation numbers in the US, due later in the day. The numbers are seen influencing the further course US Fed's action. Sentiments were fragile as India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report stated that the country's current account deficit is likely to hit a three-year high of 1.8 per cent or $43.81 billion in FY22, as against a surplus of 0.9 per cent or $23.91 billion in FY21. On currency front, rupee depreciated by 9 paise to a record low of 77.83 against the US dollar on Friday, tracking the strength of the greenback in the overseas market. Also, continuous surge in global crude oil prices raised concerns about a sustained rise in inflation. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as rate hike guidance from the European Central Bank and jitters over upcoming U.S. inflation data stoked concerns about global growth.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were reeling under pressure, however stocks from telecom and consumer durables counters were the only gainers of the session. On the flip side, stocks from IT, TECK and Energy counters were the prominent losers of the session. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 1957:1200; while 137 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 54508.10, down by 812.18 points or 1.47% after trading in a range of 54423.98 and 54780.78. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.57%, while Small cap index down by 0.49%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.41% and Consumer Durables up by 0.13%, while IT down by 1.77%, TECK down by 1.50%, Energy down by 1.46%, Oil & Gas down by 1.45% and Bankex was down by 1.41% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.27%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.67%, Titan Co up by 0.57%, Power Grid up by 0.24% and Dr. Reddy's Lab was up by 0.10%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.36%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.30%, HDFC down by 2.96%, Wipro down by 2.76% and Tech Mahindra was down by 2.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, sounding a note of caution, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran has said that the cryptocurrencies have yet to pass the test to become fiat currency and at the same time it would be difficult to regulate them. He further said that unlike fiat money, cryptocurrencies cannot satisfy basic requirements such as having store value, widespread acceptability, and unit of account.

Referring to decentralized finance (Defi), he said ‘in my opinion, while it is considered innovation, I would reserve my judgment whether it is truly innovative or truly disruptive in a positive sense or is it something that we will come to regret. Nageswaran said that he agreed with RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar who had been saying that as of now there appeared to be a case of regulatory arbitrage about cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance rather than a case of true financial innovation.

As an alternative to fiat currencies, he said cryptocurrencies have to satisfy many purposes. It has to be a store of value, it has to have widespread acceptability and it has to be a unit of account. In all these cases the new 'innovations' such as crypto or Defi are yet to pass the test. He said ‘So I wouldn't be very excited by them because sometimes we may not be fully aware or comprehend the kind of forces we are unleashing ourselves. So I would be somewhat guarded in my welcome of some of these FinTech-based disruptions like Defi and crypto etc.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16254.20, down by 223.90 points or 1.36% after trading in a range of 16227.35 and 16324.70. There were 13 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining, 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 1.20%, Grasim Industries up by 1.13%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.82%, Tata Consumer Products up by 0.54% and Titan Co was up by 0.48%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.38%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.28%, Hindalco down by 3.00%, HDFC down by 2.98% and Wipro was down by 2.74% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 161.22 points or 0.97% to 16,460.12, KOSPI fell 27.59 points or 1.05% to 2,597.85, Straits Times trembled 27.14 points or 0.85% to 3,182.48, Jakarta Composite lost 65.27 points or 0.91% to 7,117.56 and Nikkei 225 was down by 422.24 points or 1.49% to 27,824.29.

On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 39.63 points or 0.18% to 21,908.68 and Shanghai Composite was up by 40.41 points or 1.25% to 3,279.36.

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