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Indian bourses continued to trade lower in noon session with Sensex and Nifty trading down by 169 and 41 points respectively as market participants were cautious after last session's rally while keeping an eye on the Ukraine situation. Traders were worried with government data showing that exports from special economic zones (SEZs) grew at a slower pace as compared to the growth of overall outbound shipments from the country during the first eight months of the current fiscal year. However, downfall remain capped as SBI research report stated that India can add $20 billion to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) if the country can reduce by 50 per cent the dependence on imports from China by leveraging the production linked incentive schemes. On the global front, all Asian markets were trading firm amid hopes of no further escalation in the Russia-Ukraine tussles after Moscow rolled back some of its troops from borders. Back home, in scrip specific development, Jet Airways declined as its net loss widens to Rs 104 crore in Q3, while Shriram Properties surged on reporting consolidated net profit of Rs 13 crore in Q3.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57972.73, down by 169.32 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 57780.28 and 58467.04. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.28%, while Small cap index was up by 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.47%, Utilities up by 1.17%, Realty up by 1.16%, Power up by 1.01% and Oil & Gas was up by 1.00%, while Bankex down by 0.87%, Capital Goods down by 0.57%, PSU down by 0.28%, Auto down by 0.16% and Metal was down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.63%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.61%, HDFC up by 1.41%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.98% and ITC was up by 0.29%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.83%, SBI down by 1.63%, ICICI Bank down by 1.37%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.24% and Ultratech Cement was down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) has said that Indian information technology (IT) sector is set to grow at 15.5 percent - the fastest in over a decade - to $227 billion in FY22, as the pandemic pushes up demand for digitization at companies across the world. It said the revenue growth is much higher than the 2.3 per cent achieved in FY21 in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and double that of the pre-pandemic FY20.

The body termed FY22 - the first when overall revenues crossed $200 billion - as a year of resurgence for the sector, as against FY21 which tested its resilience. It now aims to take the overall revenues to $350 billion by 2026. The first $100 billion mark was achieved in 30 years, while the next came within a decade. It pointed out that at a time when the country is struggling with joblessness which is playing out with challenges on streets as well, the industry added 4.5 lakh new jobs to take the overall number of direct jobs to 51 lakh. About 44 per cent of the new jobs, or nearly 2 lakh employment opportunities, were for women, who now constitute 18 lakh workers in the sector which is giving flexible.

From a revenue pie perspective, it said exports are set to grow 17.2 per cent to $178 billion in FY22 or half of the overall service exports, while the domestic market will grow 10 per cent to $49 billion. It noted that E-commerce revenues will touch $79 billion in FY22 from the year-ago period's $57 billion. The new-age digital services sector saw a 25 per cent growth in revenues and now constitute nearly a third of the overall $227 billion pie, adding that 16 lakh employees or a third of the entire talent pool is digitally skilled. Looking at the revenue from a segmental lens, it said the largest contributor IT services grew at 16.9 per cent on the back of demand for cybersecurity, intelligent automation and analytics in cloud; software products grew at a faster 18.7 per cent to $13 billion, while hardware grew the slowest at 7.3 per cent to $17 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17311.40, down by 41.05 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 17257.70 and 17450.00. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports up by 3.15%, Divi's Lab up by 2.36%, Grasim Industries up by 2.03%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.94% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 3.02%, SBI down by 1.66%, Eicher Motors down by 1.51%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.45% and ICICI Bank was down by 1.39% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Hang Seng increased 276.87 points or 1.14% to 24,632.58, Straits Times advanced 15.01 points or 0.44% to 3,436.39, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 279.66 points or 1.56% to 18,231.47, KOSPI rose 51.45 points or 1.92% to 2,727.99, Nikkei 225 surged 595.21 points or 2.22% to 27,460.40, Jakarta Composite soared 31.56 points or 0.46% to 6,839.06 and Shanghai Composite was up by 20.35 points or 0.59% to 3,466.44.

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