After opening the day in the red share markets in India witnessed choppy trading activity and ended the day well below the dotted line. Sectoral indices too ended the day mixed, with stocks in the realty sector and stocks in the FMCG sector leading the gains, while stocks in the oil and gas sector lost the most.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 156 points (down 0.4%) and the NSE Nifty closed down by 61 points (down 0.6%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 0.3%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 0.1%.
Asian stock markets finished in red. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 0.1% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 0.7%. The Nikkei 225 was down by 0.4%. Meanwhile, European markets were trading mixed. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.1%, The DAX, was up by 0.2% while the CAC 40 was down by 0.1%.
The rupee was trading at Rs 67.84 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 71.27 at the time of writing.
In news from the auto sector. According to a leading financial daily, the government is set to bring in a host of measures to promote the adaptation of electric vehicles in India.
The government has plans to set up charging stations for electric vehicles every three kilometers in cities with million-plus population and smart cities, and every 50 km on busy national highways.
The government estimates that 30,000 slow charging and 15,000 fast-charging stations will be required to be put up in a phase-wise manner in the next 3-5 years.It is likely to offer fiscal incentives and facilitate land from municipal authorities for those interested in setting up the infrastructure, which is a key requirement for the proliferation of electric vehicles.
Public sector undertakings in the energy sector such as NTPC, Power Grid Corp and Indian Oil Corp are likely to initiate the process to set up charging stations at several locations in identified cities. The government is considering providing subsidies to the PSUs for the roll-out programme.
