Stock Market Update Today: Sensex declined 31 points; Nifty ends at 14,910

Stock Market Update Today: Equity indices declined for the third trading session and closed with marginal losses on Tuesday, March 16, 2021. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 31.12 points or 0.06 per cent to close at 50,363.96. The Nifty 50 index lost 19.05 points or 0.13 per cent and settled at 14,910.45. The Nifty Bank tanked 377.95 points or 1.07 per cent to close lower at 34,804.60.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.40 per cent and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.32 per cent.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1466 shares rose and 1497 shares fell. A total of 175 shares were unchanged. On the Nifty 50 index, 20 shares advanced, while 29 declined and 1 remain unchanged. The top five gainers on Nifty 50 were Asian Paint (up 4.70 per cent), Dr Reddy's (up 2.58 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (up 1.59 per cent), HCL Tech (up 1.58 per cent) and ITC (up 1.41 per cent). The top five losers in the index were Cipla (down 1.57 per cent), Tata Steel (down 1.55 per cent), ICICI Bank (down 1.47 per cent), SBI (down 1.40 per cent) and BPCL (down 1.21 per cent).

COVID-19 update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 12,02,46,451 with 26,60,721 deaths. India reported 2,23,432 active cases of Coronavirus infection and 1,58,856 deaths while 1,10,27,543 patients have been discharged.

Union Cabinet Announcement

The Union Cabinet today approved the bill o set up a Development Finance Institution (DFI) to generate funds for investment in the infrastructure sector, as the government moves to increase spending on roads, ports and energy.

The proposed legislation will give effect to the Budget announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2021. The government has proposed Rs 20,000 crore to capitalise on the institution.

"The Cabinet has cleared this bill, through which we will have an institution and institutional arrangement, which will help in increasing long term funds," she said after the meeting of the Cabinet.

The proposed DFI will have 50 per cent non-official directors, Sitharaman added. In her Budget 2019-20 speech, Sitharaman had proposed a study for setting up DFIs for promoting infrastructure funding. About 7,000 projects have been identified under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) with a projected investment of a whopping Rs 111 lakh crore during 2020-25.

Indian Economy

India's overall exports (Merchandise and Services combined) in April-February 2020-21 are estimated to be USD 439.64 Billion, exhibiting a negative growth of - 10.14 per cent over the same period last year. India's overall exports in February 2021 were $27.93 billion, as compared to $27.74 billion in February 2020, exhibiting a positive growth of 0.67 per cent. In Rupee terms, exports were Rs 2,03,201.56 crore in February 2021, registering a positive growth of 2.46 per cent.

Imports in February were $40.54 billion), which is an increase of 6.96 per cent in dollar terms and 8.86% in rupee terms over imports in February 2020. The trade deficit for February 2021 was estimated at $12.62 billion as against the deficit of $10.16 billion in February 2020, which is an increase of 24.14 per cent. Taking merchandise and services together, the overall trade deficit for April-February 2020-21 is estimated at USD 7.80 Billion as compared to the deficit of USD 75.90 Billion in April-February 2019-20.