China will increase its defence spending by "around seven per cent" this year, as it vowed to guard against "outside meddling" in its territorial disputes.
The coming together of the Quad and the Australia-UK-US grouping would be a formidable adversary, moving toward the creation of a 'thousand ship navy' that reins in the PLA navy in the Indo-Pacific.
Analysts suggest investors remain in a wait-and-watch mode and not jump in to buy stocks across-the-board.
Market breadth was marginally lower with 1,474 losers and 1,395 gainers on the BSE.
Flexing its muscles over Taiwan, China on Monday sailed its aircraft carrier close to the estranged island amid tensions with the US following President-elect Donald Trump's telephone call with the Taiwanese president.
BSE Power, Realty, Auto and PSU indices ended almost 1% down
Realty stocks ended firm on expectations that the central bank will start cutting interest rates in the coming months to prop up slowing economy.
US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin described China as a pacing challenge for the United States.
Markets have slipped into the red after opening on the positive zone. The Sensex is down 35 points at 17,394. Nifty is down 10 points at 5,269.
The market breadth in BSE ended healthy with 2,019 advancing and 740 shares declining.
Tremendous strength in the realty, IT and metal stocks helped the BSE benchmark index to keep the upward momentum alive.
Jonatan Christie gifted Indonesia the Asian Games gold medal they most yearned for when he beat Taiwan's Chou Tienchen in an exciting men's singles badminton final in front of a vociferous home crowd on Tuesday.
India and China have not ruled out a Modi-Xi meeting during the summit.
'The world is finally recognising that China is pushing a form of government that many only now are beginning to recognise as problematic'
The NSE Nifty ended at 3,513, down 93 points. The market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,652 stocks traded, 2,164 declined, 442 advanced and the rest were unchanged on Wednesday.
The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,724 stocks traded, 1,782 advanced, 858 declined and the rest were unchanged today.
Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong was convicted of spying for archrival Taiwan.
Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei has enjoyed double good fortune at Melbourne Park this week.
'If the almost literally heart-stopping Suez block has any positive outcome, it is to be hoped that it will accelerate the setting up of a fab (perhaps Taiwanese) in India,' asserts Rajeev Srinivasan.
The markets opened flat on the back of weak Asian cues. At 9:58 am, the Sensex was trading at 11933 up 15 points and the Nifty was trading at 3474 up 3 points.
Confronting a slowdown in growth, China says it will only increase its defence budget by 7.6% this year, against the anticipated rise of between 20% and 30%. 'It is difficult to explain the reduction in the Chinese defence budget,' says Claude Arpi. 'Is there a hidden budget? Possibly!'
Hydrography (underwater geography) prevents the Indian Navy for opting for an all-conventional, or all-nuclear submarine fleet.
The navy wants to spend Rs 40,000 crore on INS Vishal, a choice the army and air force oppose. This is as much about turf as about funding. explains Ajai Shukla.
With a population of more than 60 million, the delta region accounts for nearly 30 per cent of China's exports.
Situated at a height of 15,200 feet above sea level, the pass sits on the top of a craggily formed Himalayan range that separates the Tibetan plateau from the Indian sub-continent.
The US election campaign has provided plenty of ammunition for the CCP to make its case that its political system is superior.
'Our strategy should be to 'hold the line' in the north on the Sino-Indian land frontier, but maintain and, if possible, enlarge India's current edge in the maritime south.'
The time is ripe to extend the confrontation with the Chinese to the maritime domain, says former RA&W officer Krishan Varma.
'But one of the important things to remember is that what we are seeing today in India -- the destruction of the forests, the opening up of the forests to mining companies.' 'It's a horrifying thing that's going on.' 'Yet, if you look at who owns the mining companies, you will see that almost always they are vegetarians!' 'They are people, who in their own lives would probably not even hurt an insect, but yet have no qualms about destroying an entire ecosystem.'
President Xi Jinping's visit may put relations between India and China on a new trajectory
It is our only chance of avoiding a repeat of our catastrophic second wave, asserts Naushad Forbes.
Dismissing allegations that it is singling out China in maritime disputes, the United States has said in the last one year it has challenged the maritime territorial claims of 18 countries, including some of friendly nations like India and Brazil.
Asian shares have begun the week on a plaintive note.
Among Sensex components, shares of Reliance Industries, India's largest company by market value, stole the show by surging 1.61 per cent to their highest in over three months.
The Sensex swung over 660 points both ways on alternate bouts of selling and buying before closing the day higher by 97.39 points, or 0.28 per cent.
In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 0.5% each
Major global indices like CAC 40, DAX Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, Nikkei, Straits Times, Sensex, Nifty have lost 1% - 10% in a week
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances