Sensex closes down by 167 points, IT, realty stocks gain

Sensex Closes Down By 167 Points, IT, Realty Stocks Gain

by Utkalika Mohanty

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Indian frontline equity indices closed in the red on Wednesday as they erased gains in the last hour with Reliance, and Nestle shares pulling them lower.

Mumbai, Oct 9: Indian frontline equity indices closed in the red on Wednesday as they erased gains in the last hour with Reliance, and Nestle shares pulling them lower.

At closing, Sensex closed at 81,467, down 167 points, or 0.21 per cent, and Nifty closed at 24,981, down 31 points or 0.12 per cent.

The market sentiment was positive.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 2,706 shares closed in the green, 1,246 shares in the red, and 97 shares closed without any change.

At the day's end, the market cap of all companies listed on BSE was Rs 462 lakh crore, as against Rs 459 lakh crore on Tuesday.

In the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, SBI, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Wipro, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Infosys, and TCS were the top gainers.

ITC, Nestle, HUL, Reliance, IndusInd Bank, L&T, HDFC Bank, NTPC, M&M, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, and JSW Steel were the top losers.

Buying was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks.

The Nifty midcap 100 index closed at 59,102, up 566 points, or 0.97 per cent, and the Nifty smallcap 100 index closed at 18,864, up 246 points or 1.33 per cent.

Among the indices, auto, IT, PSU Bank, fin service, pharma, realty, and media contributed the most. FMCG, energy, private bank, and commodity fell the most.

LKP Securities' Senior Technical Analyst Rupak De said: "The Nifty opened higher but struggled to maintain gains, leading to a weaker close. On the hourly chart, the index closed just above the 20DMA, indicating that the very short-term trend remains positive and is likely to stay so as long as it holds above 24,940."

"However, a drop below 24,940 could trigger a correction down to 24,800/24,700. On the upside, 25,100 may act as resistance," he added.

--IANS

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Union Cabinet Approves Development Of National Maritime Heritage Complex At Gujarat's Lothal

by Hemanta Pande

New Delhi, Oct 9: The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the development - in two phases - of the National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC), chronicling India's over four-millennia-old maritime history, at Gujarat's Lothal.

It also accorded in-principle approval for Phase 1B and Phase 2, as per the master plan by raising funds through voluntary resources/contributions and their execution after raising the funds.

The NMHC was conceived by Prime Minister Modi to showcase 4,500 years old maritime heritage of India and is being implemented by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterway.

Its masterplan has been prepared by renowned architecture firm Architect Hafeez Contractor and the construction of phase 1A has been entrusted to Tata Projects Ltd.

Phase 1A will have the NMHC museum with 6 galleries, which also includes an Indian Navy & Coast Guard gallery envisaged to be one of the largest in the country with external naval artefacts (INS Nishank, Sea Harrier war aircraft, UH3 helicopter etc.), a replica model of Lothal township surrounded by an open aquatic gallery, and a jetty walkway.

The phase is under implementation with more than 60 per cent physical progress and is planned to be completed by 2025.

Phase 1B will have eight more galleries, a lighthouse museum which is planned to be the world’s tallest, and a Bagicha complex (with a car parking facility for about 1,500 cars, food hall, medical centre, etc.). Phase 2 will have Coastal States Pavilions (to be developed by respective coastal states and Union Territories), a hospitality zone (with maritime theme eco-resort and museuotels), a recreation of real-time Lothal City, a Maritime institute and hostel and 4 theme-based parks (Maritime & Naval Theme Park, Climate Change Theme Park, Monuments Park, and Adventure & Amusement Park).

Phases 1A and 1B of the project are to be developed in EPC mode and Phase 2 will be developed through land subleasing/ PPP to establish the NMHC as a world-class heritage museum.

The construction of the lighthouse museum will be funded by the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL).

A separate society will be set up, for the development of future phases, to be governed by a Governing Council headed by the Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 for implementation, development, management, and operation of the complex.

Around 22,000 jobs are expected to be created in the development of the NMHC project, with 15,000 direct employment and 7,000 indirect employment, while the NMHC will boost growth and immensely help the local communities, tourists and visitors, researchers and scholars, government bodies, educational institutions, cultural organisations, environment and conservation groups, and businesses. (IANS)

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Nobel Prize In Chemistry Awarded To 3 Scientists For Work On Protein Structure

by Hemanta Pande

Stockholm, Oct 9: The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M. Jumper, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Wednesday.

The prize is divided into two halves, with one half awarded to David Baker for his work on "computational protein design" and the other half jointly awarded to Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper for their discoveries in "protein structure prediction," according to the Academy.

The Academy noted that both awardees had "cracked the code for proteins' remarkable structures," with Baker successfully creating entirely new types of proteins, while Hassabis and Jumper developed an artificial intelligence model that solved a 50-year-old problem of predicting complex protein structures, offering significant potential for understanding protein structures.

Proteins typically consist of 20 different amino acids, often referred to as the building blocks of life. In 2003, David Baker used these blocks to design a new protein unlike any previously seen. Since then, his research group has generated numerous innovative protein designs, including proteins that can serve as pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials, and tiny sensors.

The second discovery relates to the prediction of protein structures. In proteins, amino acids are linked together in long chains that fold into three-dimensional structures, which are crucial for their function. Since the 1970s, researchers have struggled to predict protein structures from amino acid sequences, a task that was "notoriously" difficult. However, a significant breakthrough occurred four years ago.

In 2020, Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper introduced an AI model called AlphaFold2, which has enabled the prediction of the structure of nearly all 200 million proteins identified by researchers. Since its introduction, AlphaFold2 has been used by over two million people from 190 countries. This model has had wide-ranging applications, including aiding research into antibiotic resistance and creating images of enzymes that can break down plastic.

"One of the discoveries recognised this year involves the construction of extraordinary proteins. The other fulfils a 50-year-old dream: predicting protein structures from amino acid sequences. Both discoveries open up immense possibilities," said Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

The diversity of life underscores proteins' incredible ability as chemical tools. They control and drive all the chemical reactions that underpin life. Proteins also act as hormones, signalling molecules, antibodies, and the building blocks of various tissues.

The Swedish Royal Academy will award 11 million Swedish kronor to the laureates, with half going to David Baker and the other half shared by Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper. (ANI)

Sensex closes down by 167 points, IT, realty stocks gain

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