After opening on a negative note, Indian share markets continued the downtrend as the session progressed and ended the day weak.

After a one-day hiatus, equity markets resumed their broad-based downward trend on Wednesday led by profit booking in Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Power Grid, Maruti Suzuki.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 790 points (down 1.1%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 247 points (down 1.1%).

HUL, Infosys, and TCS were among the top gainers today.

Apollo Hospital, Eicher Motors, and IndusInd Bank on the other hand were among the top losers today.

The GIFT Nifty ended at 21,891 up by 302 points.

Broader markets ended the day lower. The BSE Mid Cap and the BSE Small Cap index ended 1.9% lower.

Sectoral indices are trading negatively with the stocks realty sector, power sector, and oil & gas sector witnessing the most selling pressure.

Shares of ABB India, CAMS, and M&M hit their respective 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 82.94 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading 0.4 lower at Rs 62,080 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading 0.7% lower at Rs 70,555 per 1 kg.

Here are three reasons why Indian Markets are rising today

#1 FII Selling

FIIs selling off substantial amounts of Indian stocks possibly contributed to the market's fall. FII has continued to be a net seller, with month-to-date (MTD) net sales of Rs 176.5 bn.

The head of business development for institutional equity at Emkay Global, Jaykrishna Gandhi, stated that domestic institutional investors (DIIs) had, on the other hand, net purchased Rs 237.8 bn MTD.

#2 Key Economic Data

Ahead of important US economic data, including the second estimate of GDP, PCE, and manufacturing statistics, analysts say that global markets have been struggling for direction over the week.

#3 Global Markets

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 04% lower at 525.4 points but hovering around a near seven-month peak of 531.5 after a strong rally. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 edged 0.3% lower, Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 1.4%, while the Shanghai Composite sank 1.9%.

#4 Expiry Pressure

A part of the volatility in the market today is also attributed to the monthly F&O expiry tomorrow. For the February monthly series, 22,200 call have significant open interest, followed by 22,300 strikes
 

Torrent Power Forays in Transmission Line

In news from the power sector, Shares of Torrent Power Limited gained almost 4% to Rs 1,190 in morning trade on 28 February after the company announced that it bagged a project for the evacuation of power from renewable energy projects in Solapur, Maharashtra, marking its foray into the transmission segment.

The project has been conceived to evacuate Renewable energy with a capacity of 1,500 MW from Solapur and entails the setting up of a transmission line of about 44 kilometers from the existing Solapur substation.

The annual transmission charges of the project are Rs 500 m, and the company will build this project on a BOOT basis (build own operate transfer) and operate it for 35 years. The project is expected to be commissioned in 24 months.

While Torrent Power owns and operates Transmission projects; the award of this project marks Torrent Power's foray into the development of Transmission projects under the Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) framework.
 

Asian Paints Extends fall, Down 7%

Moving on to news from the paint sector, shares of Asian Paints continued their downward spiral, falling around 7% in the past four days as Grasim's foray into the paints business has sparked fears of increased competitive intensity in the sector.

Grasim launched its paint brand, Birla Opus, last week, which aims to attain the second position in the decorative paints market, which is currently being dominated by Asian Paints.

Not just that, Grasim also targets to achieve profitability and a gross revenue of Rs 100 bn within three years of commencing full-scale operations. While the bullish targets set by Grasim and an equally comprehensive strategy by the management to make it a reality has ushered optimism from the Street, it has heated things for Asian Paints.

Asian Paints is down 20% from its one-year high.

Exicom Tele IPO Booked 16 times

Moving on, the Rs 4.3 bn public issue of Exicom Tele-Systems was subscribed 16.03 times on 28 February, the second day of bidding. The IPO received a total of 292.2 m bids against an issue size of 18.2 m shares.

At the forefront were retail investors, garnering almost 44 times their allotted quota, while non-institutional investors mopped up 30.4 times the portion reserved for them. Qualified institutional buyers of QIBs also subscribed to the issue, picking up 1.2 times their portion.

In the initial public offer of the Gurugram-based EV charger manufacturer, approximately 75% of the shares are reserved for qualified institutional buyers, 15% for non-institutional investors, and the remaining 10% for retail investors.

The IPO includes fresh shares of Rs 3.3 bn and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of 7 million shares amounting to Rs 1 bn at the upper price band from promoter NextWave Communication.

The company plans to spend Rs 1.5 bn to set up assembly lines at a facility in Telangana.

Additionally, Rs 690 m will be earmarked for working capital requirements, while Rs 400 m will be invested in research and development (R&D) and product development.

A portion of the funds, amounting to Rs 503 m, will be utilized for repaying debts, and the remaining amount will be allocated for general corporate purposes.

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