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Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in afternoon session, tracking global peers following Federal Reserve official Jim Bullard’s hawkish comments that suggested the first interest rate hike by the US central bank could come as early as the end of 2022. Traders were also worried as private report projected real GDP growth of 8.7 per cent in FY22, down from 11.1 per cent it had forecast earlier. However, it revised up the FY23 forecast from 4 per cent to 5.4 per cent. Though, downfall remain limited as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pumped in a net Rs 13,667 crore so far in June as Indian markets continued to remain attractive to overseas investors. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower as investors are still recalibrating their moves after the Federal Reserve's signal last week that it may raise current ultra-low rates sooner than had been expected.

Back home, stocks from power, realty and utilities counters were supporting the markets, while those from auto, oil and gas and metal counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. Further, depreciation in the rupee against dollar also dampened the sentiment.

BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52085.66, down by 258.79 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 51740.19 and 52197.42. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.07%, while Small cap index was down by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.95%, Realty up by 0.86%, Utilities up by 0.28% and Healthcare was up by 0.03%, while Auto down by 1.07%, Oil & Gas down by 1.06%, Metal down by 0.84%, Bankex down by 0.76% and IT was down by 0.66% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.47%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.12%, Asian Paints up by 0.64%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.51% and Bajaj Finance was up by 0.15%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.72%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.70%, ICICI Bank down by 1.61%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.29% and SBI was down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its World Investment Report 2021 has said that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India increased 27 percent to $64 billion in 2020 from $51 billion in 2019, pushed up by acquisitions in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, making the country the fifth-largest FDI recipient in the world. It noted that the COVID-19 second wave in the country weighs heavily on the country's overall economic activities but its strong fundamentals provide ‘optimism’ for the medium term.

The report has stated that the pandemic boosted demand for digital infrastructure and services globally. This led to higher values of greenfield FDI project announcements targeting the ICT industry, rising by more than 22 percent to $81 billion. FDI to India has been on a long-term growth trend and its market size will continue to attract market-seeking investments. In addition, investment into the ICT industry is expected to keep growing.

According to the report, the country's export-related manufacturing, a priority investment sector, will take longer to recover, but government facilitation can help. India's Production Linkage Incentive scheme, designed to attract manufacturing and export-oriented investments in priority industries including automotive and electronics can drive a rebound of investment in manufacturing.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15601.15, down by 82.20 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 15505.65 and 15634.60. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports up by 5.70%, NTPC up by 2.42%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.07%, Asian Paints up by 0.70% and Hindustan Unilever was up by 0.54%. On the flip side, UPL down by 4.63%, Tata Motors down by 2.22%, Hindalco down by 2.07%, Wipro down by 1.76% and Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 953.15 points or 3.29% to 28,010.93, Jakarta Composite lost 24.96 points or 0.42% to 5,982.16, Taiwan Weighted dropped 255.56 points or 1.48% to 17,062.98, Straits Times trembled 39.29 points or 1.25% to 3,104.87, Hang Seng decreased 355.29 points or 1.23% to 28,445.98 and KOSPI was down by 27.14 points or 0.83% to 3,240.79. On the other hand, Shanghai Composite was up by 1.53 points or 0.04% to 3,526.63.

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