NIFTY50 and SENSEX trade in red; Midcap and smallcap indices outperform

Bears continued to hold their grip over the Dalal Street in the mid- market session, with both SENSEX and NIFTY50 trading lower, amid negative cues from other Asian markets along with selling at Banking and Consumer Durables counters. Traders were cautious, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest monthly bulletin-February 2025 has said that the global economy continues to grow at a steady but moderate pace, with a divergent outlook across countries amid rapidly evolving political and technological landscapes.

Besides, financial markets remain on edge about the slowing pace of disinflation and the potential impact of tariffs. Emerging market economies (EMEs) are witnessing selling pressures from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and currency depreciation engendered by a strong US dollar.

The overall market breadth remained in favour of bulls as 1917 stocks advanced against 777 declines. There were 20 stocks that hit 52-week highs and 90 stocks that hit 52-week lows on the NSE. In addition, the

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower after Indonesia's central bank left its interest rate unchanged on Wednesday after cutting it by a quarter-point last month and hinting at further reduction this year.

The SENSEX traded at 75759.77, down by 179.41 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 75463.01 and 75794.15. The index had 15 stocks advancing and 15 stocks declining.

Meanwhile, Moody's Ratings in its latest report has said that India's power sector - the biggest carbon emitter - will need a massive $700 billion investment over the next 10 years to help the country achieve its 2070 net-zero pledge. Stating that the power sector accounts for around 37% of carbon emissions in the country, it said the investments required by the power sector during fiscal 2026-51 to be of the order of 1.5% to 2% of GDP (around 2 per cent for the next 10 years), which is manageable for India.

Moody's pegged power sector's annual investment requirement between ₹4.5 lakh crore to ₹6.4 lakh crore ($53 billion to $76 billion) of investment until fiscal 2034-35 (fiscal year ending March 2035), and around ₹6 lakh crore to ₹9 lakh crore annually over fiscal 2026-51. It said, ‘We estimate India's power sector investments would be in the range of Rs 4.5 lakh crore to ₹6.4 lakh crore ($53 billion to $76 billion) until fiscal 2034-35 (total investment of around $700 billion over the next 10 years), and ₹6.0 lakh crore to ₹9.5 lakh crore annually over fiscal 2025-51’.

The NIFTY50 traded at 22903.60, down by 29.30 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 22812.75 and 22914.10. The index had 28 stocks advancing and 22 stocks declining.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Hang Seng declined 249.74 points or 1.09% to 22,694.50, Jakarta Composite plunged 2.52 points or 0.04% to 6,792.35, Shanghai Composite weakened 0.45 points or 0.01% to 3,351.09, Straits Times fell 6.53 points or 0.17% to 3,927.51, KOSPI dropped 24.40 points or 0.91% to 2,647.12, Nikkei 225 slipped 536.24 points or 1.37% to 38,628.37 and Taiwan Weighted lost 116.62 points or 0.5% to 23,487.46.