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Bears were holding a tight grip over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading lower, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Selling across all the sectoral indices except Telecom kept markets down, with Axis Bank falling the most on the BSE. Traders overlooked a private report stating that Indian consumer price inflation slowed in October to 6.73% on weaker food price rises and a strong base one year ago but remained stubbornly well above the 6% upper limit of the Reserve Bank of India's tolerance band. Meanwhile, another private report stated that the government may soon introduce changes to the capital tax regime, making it simpler. The primary consideration will be parity within the assets, and the Centre may even consider changing the tax rates. The multiple holding periods may also be rationalised.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as South Korea's unemployment rate remained unchanged in October. The data from Statistics Korea showed that the unemployment rate was a seasonally adjusted 2.8 percent in October, same as in September. In August, the rate had eased to 2.5 percent from 2.9 percent in July. In October last year, the unemployment rate was 3.2 percent. On an non-adjusted basis, the jobless rate remained unchanged at 2.4 percent in October.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60597.36, down by 436.19 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 60511.99 and 60848.73. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index up by 1.02%, while Small cap index down by 0.96%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Telecom up by 0.04%, while Auto down by 2.07%, Consumer Durables down by 1.42%, PSU down by 1.16%, Bankex down by 1.03% and Utilities down by 0.92% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.43%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.71%, HCL Technologies up by 0.55%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.54% and TCS up by 0.13%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 3.17%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.16%, Titan Company down by 2.47%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.30% and Indusind Bank down by 2.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, giving a strong signal of the country's commitment to a low-carbon economy, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman has approved the final Sovereign Green Bonds framework of India. This approval will further strengthen India’s commitment towards its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs) targets, adopted under the Paris Agreement, and help in attracting global and domestic investments in eligible green projects. The proceeds generated from issuance of such bonds will be deployed in Public Sector projects which help in reducing carbon intensity of the economy.

The Framework comes close on the footsteps of India’s commitments under ‘Panchamrit’ as elucidated by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, at COP26 at Glasgow in November, 2021. The approval is fulfillment of the announcement in the Union Budget FY 2022-23 by the Union Finance Minister that Sovereign Green Bonds will be issued for mobilising resources for green projects.

Green bonds are financial instruments that generate proceeds for investment in environmentally sustainable and climate-suitable projects. By virtue of their indication towards environmental sustainability, green bonds command a relatively lower cost of capital vis-a-vis regular bonds and necessitates credibility and commitments associated with the process of raising bonds.

In the above context, India’s first Sovereign Green Bonds framework was formulated and as per the provisions of the framework, Green Finance Working Committee (GFWC) was constituted to validate key decisions on issuance of Sovereign Green Bonds.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18026.75, down by 130.25 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 18010.80 and 18103.10. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 1.45%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.25%, ONGC up by 0.87%, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories up by 0.80% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.66%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.25%, Axis Bank down by 3.08%, SBI Life Insurance Company down by 2.65% and Titan Company down by 2.49% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; KOSPI fell 22.18 points or 0.91% to 2,402.23, Shanghai Composite declined 8.42 points or 0.28% to 3,039.75, Jakarta Composite lost 98.66 points or 1.4% to 6,971.42, Taiwan Weighted dropped 135.05 points or 0.99% to 13,503.76, Nikkei 225 slipped 270.33 points or 0.98% to 27,446.10 and Hang Seng decreased 325.34 points or 1.99% to 16,033.18, while Straits Times advanced 7.12 points or 0.22% to 3,172.62.

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