Dominance of bears continued at Dalal Street as benchmark equity indices settled lower for another session on Tuesday. For the day, BSE Sensex dropped about 338 points to settle at 57,900 mark, whereas NSE’s Nifty declined 111 points to close at 17,047 after briefly breaching the 17,000 mark.
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and other lenders has spooked the traders globally and a slowing economy is weighing on the sentiments. However, investors will track the US inflation numbers for interest rate hike path. The US Fed remains largely hawkish.
Panic was seen in broader markets as well as second rung stocks also took a hit. BSE midcap index shed about half a per cent, whereas BSE Smallcap Index declined about a per cent. Fear Gauge India VIX ended flat.
“Nifty fell for the fourth consecutive session, pulled down by the ongoing banking crisis in the US. Investors grappled with the fallout of failed banks in the US and an uncertain path forward for monetary policy. Investors will be keeping a close watch on the US consumer price index, due on Tuesday,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.
‘Nifty continued to fall as expected, but the pace of fall and the breadth of fall has reduced. This hints at a near term bottom formation or reversal soon. Nifty could stay in the 16,788-17,160 band for the near term,” he said.
Sector-wise, only Nifty Media and Pharma indices managed to end the session in green. Among the losers, Nifty IT and PSU Bank indices were the top laggards, falling 2 per cent each. Nifty Realty, Metal and Auto indices shed a per cent each.
Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports emerged as the biggest laggards on the Nifty 50 pack. The former plunged 7 per cent, while the latter shed over 4 per cent. Other laggards including M&M, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Life Insurance, Bajaj Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank were down 2 per cent each.
Among the gainers, Titan Company and Bharat Petroleum jumped over a per cent each, whereas Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharma were among other top gainers.
Other Adani Group stocks including Adani Power, Adani Total Gas, Adani Wilmar, Adani Transmission and NDTV hit their lower circuits of 5 per cent each. Ambuja Cement dropped 3 per cent, whereas Adani Green Energy and ACC were down 2 per cent each for the day.
“Following weak global cues on the Silicon Valley Bank crisis, the Indian stock market fell for the fourth consecutive session on Tuesday. The market is concerned about the outcome of the US Fed’s FOMC meeting on rate hikes,” said Deven Mehata, Equity Research Analyst at Choice Broking.
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