Bears continued to dominate Dalal Street as domestic equity markets kicked off the week on a sombre note on Monday. However, the benchmark indices recouped some losses at the fag-end of the sessions but could not end the day in green on the back of volatility in the markets.
A mixture of domestic and global factors kept the traders on tenterhooks, pushing the bulls aside. Inflation fears, hawkish US Fed, India’s PMI numbers, renewed FII selling and a stronger US dollar are weighing on the market sentiments.
For the day, the 30-share pack BSE Sensex declined 175.88 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 59,288.35. NSE’s Nifty50 shed 73.10 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 17,392.70. Broader markets underperformed the headline peers as BSE midcap and smallcap indices shed over a per cent each. Fear gauge India VIX dropped more than 2 per cent to 13.87-level.
Markets started the week on a feeble note, in continuation to the prevailing corrective phase. Pressure in the IT, metal and auto majors kept the tone negative but resilience in the banking pack capped the damage. And, a fresh fall in the broader indices further deteriorated the sentiment, said Ajit Mishra, VP – Technical Research, Religare Broking.
“The pressure in banking and financial majors was weighing on the sentiment during the initial phase of correction and now it’s cascading to the other sectors as well. Besides, the fall in the US markets is adding to the pessimism. We feel it’s prudent to wait for a rebound for creating fresh shorts citing oversold positions and some resilience in select private banking names,” he said.
On a sectoral front, Nifty Media Index plunged 4 per cent, followed by a 3 per cent fall in Metal Index. Nifty IT and Auto indices dropped 2 per cent each, followed by a per cent fall in pharma stocks. However, the Nifty realty index rose 2 per cent, whereas the banking gauge was up about a per cent.
Among the Adani Group stocks, Adani Enterprises topped the losers with a 10 per cent cut. Adani Transmission Ltd, Adani Power Ltd, Adani Total Gas Ltd, Adani Green Energy Ltd, Adani Wilmar Ltd and NDTV hit lower circuits of 5 per cent each. Ambuja Cements Ltd dropped over 4 per cent, whereas ACC was down 2 per cent. However, Adani Ports managed to settle in green.
A total of 3,735 shares were traded on BSE on Monday, of which 2,593 settled lowers. 956 stocks ended the session with gains, while 186 shares remained unchanged. A total of 13 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas only six tested the lower circuit levels for the day.
In the Nifty50 pack, Bajaj Auto dropped over 5 per cent over product cut plans reports. UPL plunged over 4 per cent, whereas Tata Steel and Infosys shed 3 per cent each. On the contrary, ICICI Bank and Power Grid topped the gainers with a 2 per cent rally, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Life Insurance.
Bears continued to wreak havoc in the domestic market as the latest data releases from the US heightened the existing worries of aggressive rate hikes. The personal consumption expenditure in the US increased in January, pressuring investors to stay away from equities markets, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
In the broader markets, Macrotech Developers jumped over 12 per cent, whereas Olectra Greentech extended its gains to rise another 11 per cent after the launch of its hydrogen bus. RHI Magnesita gained 7 per cent and Chemplast Sanmar was up 6 per cent.
On the other hand, Uflex declined over 17 per cent after the Income Tax department conducted raids at packaging company premises. Deep Industries plunged 15 per cent, whereas Cantabil Retail, Nucleus Software and Universal Cables were down 8-10 per cent each.
Nifty is taking support at the 200 DMA. Nifty shows a sharp recovery from the day low of 17,299 level, said Rohan Shah-head technical analyst at Stoxbox.
“Intraday traders can look for long opportunities only above the resistance level of 17,460 & the price should sustain above 17,460 for 15 minutes to confirm long. Traders can look for fresh shorts only if nifty breaks the 17,300 level & remains below for 15 min to confirm short,” he said.
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