Indian markets continued to trade in deep red in early afternoon session as traders avoided to take risk. Heavy selling pressure in IT and TECK sector stocks forced markets to trade lower. Sentiments were downbeat as Engineering Export Promotion Council India’s (EEPC India) latest data showing that India’s engineering exports to the UAE (the second-largest market) and Saudi Arabia (the fourth-largest market) fell sharply in March 2026 as ongoing West Asia conflict has severely disrupted global shipping, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) April bulletin has said that ongoing conflict in West Asia and supply chain disruptions could pose challenges to the domestic economy in the form of higher energy costs, input cost pressures, disruption in trade flows and spillovers in financial markets. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed. Nikkei 225 were traded higher even after Japan consumer price inflation accelerated in March despite measures taken by government to curb oil prices.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76687.72, down by 976.28 points or 1.26% after trading in a range of 76680.74 and 77710.82. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were IT down by 4.58%, TECK down by 3.72%, Utilities down by 1.65%, Realty down by 1.52% and Telecom was down by 1.50%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 0.27%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.24% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.14%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 5.90%, HCL Tech down by 5.10%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.42%, TCS down by 4.38% and Sun Pharma down by 3.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Chairman of the IT industry body -- Nasscom, Srikanth Velamakanni, has said that restoring revenue growth in IT firms and evangelising the rising role of artificial intelligence (AI) and technologies in companies will be key priority areas for Nasscom. Also, he said the industry body would aim for policy support to enable the country to build more AI capacity and introduce an AI-led curriculum in the education system. He emphasized on increasing spending and said India should be spending more on technology than the country is spending at present. He also highlighted programmes like India AI mission and National Quantum Mission, launched by government to promote technology. 

Besides, he pointed that creating a new entrance of the workforce who are fundamentally much more equipped with AI and new age tech skills is very important. On employment generation in an AI-dominated era, he said that the net addition of jobs has been positive for the last year, and it continues to stay positive. He added that tech industry, which was driving a significant headcount addition every year, consistently for many years, hasn't done so in the last couple of years because growth has been lower than expected. 

He noted that there is compression coming from various kinds of AI technologies, which are making it easier to do the same work with fewer human hours. Further, the need for enterprise AI will go up as AI becomes better creating a ‘multi-trillion-dollar opportunity’. AI progress is unlocking unprecedented opportunities for enterprises, large and small, to reimagine their businesses. He said that India will play a pivotal role in this AI-led transformation. He added that Nasscom will focus on driving the next cycle of AI-powered growth across services and products and prepare the workforce to lead with AI, over the coming year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23897.60, down by 275.45 points or 1.14% after trading in a range of 23893.40 and 24206.00. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 1.09%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.76%, Eicher Motors up by 0.63%, Grasim Industries up by 0.55% and HDFC Bank up by 0.24%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 5.66%, HCL Tech down by 5.23%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.53%, TCS down by 4.39% and Sun Pharma down by 3.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted added 1218.25 points or 3.13% to 38,932.40, Nikkei 225 surged 576.77 points or 0.97% to 59,717.00 and Hang Seng was up by 89.8 points or 0.35% to 26,005.00. On the flip side, KOSPI dropped 0.18 points to 6,475.63, Straits Times fell 4.33 points or 0.09% to 4,939.78, Shanghai Composite weakened 13.18 points or 0.32% to 4,080.07 and Jakarta Composite was down by 225.76 points or 3.16% to 7,152.85.