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Indian equities continued their weak trade in the afternoon session on back of selling in front line counters. The sentiments remained pessimistic as Reserve Bank data showed that in the steepest weekly fall ever, India's forex reserves slid by $11.173 billion to $606.475 billion as the currency came under pressure due to geopolitical developments. For the previous reporting week ended March 25, the overall reserves had slid by $2.03 billion to $617.648 billion. Traders were also worried as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Friday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 575.04 crore, exchange data showed. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower as investors reacted to Chinese inflation data for March. China's producer inflation for March was higher than expected. The producer price index surged 8.3% as compared with a year ago.

Back home, in scrip specific development, shares of IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) traded marginally higher, in an otherwise weak broader market, ahead of its fourth quarter earnings report. The country’s largest software exporter is expected to release its financial report for the quarter ended March 2022, post market hours today.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59156.64, down by 290.54 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 58945.08 and 59333.18. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.53%, while Small cap index was up by 0.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.64%, Power up by 2.61%, Oil & Gas up by 1.71%, Energy up by 1.05% and Basic Materials was up by 0.97%, while IT down by 1.31%, TECK down by 1.22%, Capital Goods down by 0.43%, Consumer Durables down by 0.36% and Telecom wwas down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.34%, ICICI Bank up by 1.20%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.99%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.75% and Indusind Bank was up by 0.53%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 2.68%, Infosys down by 2.32%, Wipro down by 2.16%, Power Grid down by 1.53% and Larsen & Toubro was down by 1.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, seeking investments, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India and Australia can enhance cooperation in areas such as skill development, education, services sectors, information technology, manufacturing and internet of things. He said Australian firms that would invest in India can own 100 per cent of their companies and keep their technology and trade secrets.

The minister said ‘you get a huge market (in India) with huge defence budgets, particularly considering the situation and the neighbourhood in which we are located….We would love to see investments growing into India from Australia and I will assure you that you will get far better returns than the return you get in your own country today.’

Goyal has stated that India and Australia have recently inked economic cooperation and trade agreements to boost economic ties. In this agreement, he said India is looking at several ways to expand relationships, particularly in the fields of skill development, education, and services sectors, which hold huge potential. He said ‘probably we can look at even developing 5G telecom systems together’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17727.35, down by 57.00 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 17653.55 and 17761.10. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 2.13%, Adani Ports up by 1.87%, ITC up by 1.72%, JSW Steel up by 1.44% and Apollo Hospital was up by 1.33%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 2.61%, Infosys down by 2.30%, Wipro down by 2.12%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.56% and SBI Life Insurance was down by 1.55% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Shanghai Composite declined 78.46 points or 2.41% to 3,173.39, Nikkei 225 slipped 164.28 points or 0.61% to 26,821.52, KOSPI fell 7.29 points or 0.27% to 2,693.10, Taiwan Weighted dropped 236.17 points or 1.37% to 17,048.37, Hang Seng decreased 615.19 points or 2.81% to 21,256.82 and Straits Times was down by 14.65 points or 0.43% to 3,368.63. On the flip side; Jakarta Composite was up by 29.07 points or 0.4% to 7,239.91.

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