IGI Logo

Indian equity benchmarks extended their losses in early afternoon session, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders were cautious, as in a tightening cycle, a premature pause in monetary policy action would be a costly policy error, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das opined while voting along with five other members of the MPC for raising the key lending rate by 35 basis points earlier this month. Besides, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is keeping an eye on inflation which is purely extraneous nowadays because of fuel and fertiliser prices. Adding more worries, a CAG audit report on Direct Taxes drew attention to 57 instances of significant errors and irregularities in corporation tax assessments of high value cases involving tax effects of Rs 6,304.56 crore.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after producer prices in South Korea were down 0.2 percent on month in November. That follows the 0.5 percent increase in October. Among the individual components, prices for agricultural, forestry and marine products dropped 3.2 percent on month, while manufacturing products eased 0.2 percent, utilities dipped 0.1 percent and services were flat.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60758.34, down by 308.90 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 60668.66 and 61464.38. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 1.23%, while Small cap index was down by 2.18%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was TECK up by 0.03%, while Utilities down by 2.20%, Power down by 1.96%, Industrials down by 1.93%, Metal down by 1.64% and Capital Goods down by 1.55% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 0.87%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.86%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.84% and Infosys up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.02%, Tata Motors down by 2.46%, Tata Steel down by 2.42%, Indusind Bank down by 2.13% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.77% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, pressing for the prohibition of instruments like Bitcoin, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has warned that the next financial crisis can be triggered by private cryptocurrencies, if such speculative instruments are allowed to grow.  Das has been staunchly opposed to such instruments and the RBI has gone till the Supreme Court with its contention. He said 'Cryptocurrencies… have huge inherent risks from macroeconomic and financial stability (perspective) and we have been pointing it out.’

The RBI governor stated that the developments over the last one year, which include the latest crash of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which is termed as one of the biggest financial frauds in the history of the US, illustrate the threat posed by such instruments. He noted that private cryptocurrencies' valuation has shrunk from $190 billion to $140 billion and there is no underlying value for the market-determined price.

Das acknowledged that different jurisdictions are taking different stances on it, but the RBI would like to stick to its stance of prohibiting them completely. He said the origin of private cryptocurrencies lie in their intent to break the system, in not believing in fiat currencies introduced by the central banks and not believing in a regulated financial system.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18106.10, down by 93.00 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 18075.40 and 18318.75. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital up by 1.02%, SBI Life Insurance Company up by 1.02%, Sun Pharma up by 0.87%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.82% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.79%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.88%, UPL down by 2.70%, Tata Steel down by 2.51%, Tata Motors down by 2.50% and BPCL down by 2.42% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 399.55 points or 2.09% to 19,560.04, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 208.54 points or 1.47% to 14,442.94, Nikkei 225 surged 120.15 points or 0.46% to 26,507.87, KOSPI rose 27.78 points or 1.19% to 2,356.73 and Straits Times advanced 17.98 points or 0.55% to 3,274.17, while Jakarta Composite lost 6.74 points or 0.1% to 6,813.92 and Shanghai Composite declined 22.57 points or 0.74% to 3,045.84.

Above views are of the author and not of the website kindly read disclaimer