Bears hold grip over Dalal Street

Bears continued to hold a tight grip over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty falling in deep red, amid mixed cues from other Asian markets, as traders remained cautious about escalating tensions in the Middle East following Iran's ballistic missile attack against Israel. Stronger-than-expected U.S. private sector employment data also dimmed prospects of aggressive rate cuts by the US Fed. Traders got cautious amid a private report that the escalating tension in the Middle East, following Iran’s missile attack on Israel, can disrupt oil supply. No wonder, oil prices spiked after the news of Iran’s military operation broke out. There is fear that the regional conflict may snowball into a wider war which can alter the trajectory of interest rates globally. The major central banks in several major advanced economies, except Japan, and emerging markets have moved towards easing their monetary policies. However, the Middle East crisis is set to pose a new challenge for central banks.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as the private sector in Singapore continued to expand in September, albeit at a slower pace, with a PMI score of 56.6. That's down from 57.6 in August, although it remains well above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82905.71, down by 1360.58 points or 1.61% after trading in a range of 82870.43 and 83752.81. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 1.60%, while Small cap index was down by 1.21%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 3.43%, Capital Goods down by 2.29%, Auto down by 2.21%, Industrials down by 1.90% and Consumer discretionary down by 1.88%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 1.46%, Tata Steel up by 0.36% and Sun Pharma up by 0.08%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.69%, Tata Motors down by 3.41%, Larsen & Toubro down by 3.27%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.07% and Axis Bank down by 3.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog member (Health) VK Paul has said that the government is considering tweaking regulatory norms for MedTech and pharma sectors and sought industry inputs for the same. He said with changing times the regulatory framework also needs to be worked upon. He noted that under the ages of principal scientific adviser to the Government of India, regulatory improvements for medical technology and pharma are under active consideration. He sought industry participation in making the system better.

He said ‘we are working on it with a very open mind. We are conscious of the fact that even in the classical space, there is room for improvement. But certainly, when it comes to frontline technology, cell and gene therapies for the individualised care and perhaps even integrated systems that we are looking at, the regulatory system needs to be tweaked to be improved’.

He stated that as per the government's stated vision of making India a developed country by 2047, there is a need to enhance exports from India. The country should not only be the largest market for diagnostics but also the biggest creator of technologies in the sector. He said Medtech Mitra is a humble initiative launched by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which will pave the way for many potential products in diagnostics.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25377.60, down by 419.30 points or 1.63% after trading in a range of 25368.70 and 25639.45. There were 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 1.72%, Tata Steel up by 0.48%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.40%, ONGC up by 0.39% and Sun Pharma up by 0.09%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 4.26%, Asian Paints down by 3.78%, Shriram Finance down by 3.35%, Larsen & Toubro down by 3.33% and Tata Motors down by 3.22% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 158.48 points or 0.71% to 22,285.25 and Jakarta Composite plunged 18.7 points or 0.25% to 7,544.56, while Straits Times rose 2.86 points or 0.08% to 3,587.53 and Nikkei 225 surged 743.3 points or 1.93% to 38,552.06.