Indian share markets extended losses today, after a day's gap, following a market-wide sell-off and ended lower.

Benchmark indices fell over a percent each with investors keeping a wary eye on the impact of omicron.

The backdrop has investors questioning whether global stocks are due for a rougher patch after almost doubling from pandemic low.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 889 points (down 1.5%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 263 points (down 1.5%).

Wipro and Infosys were among the top gainers today.

IndusInd Bank and Tata Motors, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,017, down by 300 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended down by 2.4% while the BSE Small Cap index ended lower by 2.1%.

Barring the software sector, all sectoral indices ended on a negative note with stocks from the real estate sector and banking sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Shares of Persistent Systems and Tech Mahindra hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a positive note today.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite both ended down by 1.2%. The Nikkei ended down by 1.8% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a negative note today with the Dow Futures trading down by 19 points.

The rupee is trading at 76.08 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 48,707 per 10 grams.

In news from the software sector, Wipro was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Global information technology company Wipro announced that it signed an agreement to acquire US-based LeanSwift Solutions.

The acquisition is in line with Wipro's strategy to invest and expand its cloud transformation business through Wipro FullStride Cloud Services.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close before the end of the quarter ending 31 March 2022.

With its capabilities in both consulting and implementation space, LeanSwift will establish Wipro's position in cloud services.

The combined entity will enable Wipro in key transformation deals, especially in the manufacturing and distribution industry.

LeanSwift has development offices across the US, Sweden and India with clients spanning across manufacturing, distribution, chemicals, fashion, and food & beverages.

Headquartered in Florida, LeanSwift offers services in ERP, e-commerce, digital transformation, supply chain, warehouse management systems, business intelligence and integrations.

Wipro share price ended the day up by 3.8% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the power sector...

Government Rolls Back Proposals In Draft Electricity Bill, 2020

The Central government has decided to roll back several proposals introduced in the draft Electricity Bill, 2020. The Bill will no longer have a provision on abolition of electricity subsidies.

This would impact the Centre's commitment to introduce Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in the electricity sector.

In the latest round of changes in the Bill, the proposal of DBT has been dropped too.

The Centre, which is pushing reforms in the power distribution segment, had proposed to remove the term 'subsidy' in the first draft of the over-arching Electricity Bill last year.

It had instead proposed DBT in electricity, like in LPG.

Many states have been critical of the move to end subsidised power rates. Even farmer bodies, during their recent agitation, had come down heavily on the proposal.

While a large number of states provide subsidy on electricity bills to agriculture consumers, some offer it to a select set of users or like in the case of Delhi, up to a certain amount of electricity consumption.

First made public in April 2020, the Bill is yet to get the Union Cabinet's approval.

In February, the Centre had amended the Bill abolishing the concept of power "distribution licence", thereby opening doors for any company to supply electricity to an area, after necessary regulatory approval.

It also seeks to allow two or more discoms to register and distribute electricity in the same areas.

We will keep you posted on more updates from this space. Stay tuned.

Speaking of the power sector, it's interesting to note the power exchanged in India is about 4.5% of the overall power production, as can be seen in the chart below.