Today’s Market Summarised
Nifty saw huge huge intraday fall in the morning, but went on to gain back some losses. The sell-off was seen across all sectors, but was majorly sponsored by banks.
Nifty opened the day at 14,850 with a gap-down and made a 100 point red candle. It tried to take support at 14,750 but this was broken too. Nifty touched a day-low of 14,459, nearly 390 points away from the opening level. Nifty closed the day at 14,637, down 229 points or 1.54% in the day.
Bank Nifty was very weak in the day. After opening the day at 33,670 with a 200 point gap-down, the index fell sharply in the first 2 hours of trade. 33,000 was broken easily followed by 32,750. After falling more than 1,500 points(4.6%), Bank Nifty moved up and consolidated. Closed the day at 32,678 down 1179 points or 3.48% in the day.
Only Nifty IT(up 1.97%) and Nifty Metal(up 0.89%) closed in the green. Finance stocks were worst affected, with Nifty PSU Bank down 4% followed by Nifty Bank(down 3.48%) and Fin Services(down 3.25%). Nifty Media was also down more than 3%.
Those Asian markets which were open traded mixed. European markets were closed today, after Easter.
News Picks
Steel Authority of India(SAIL) recorded its best-ever quarterly sales at 4.27 million tonnes (MT) during the March quarter, up 14% YoY. The stock opened with a 5% gap-up. The company also raised prices of products. Shares closed 7% up.
Adani Ports increased the ownership in Krishnapatnam port from 75% to 100%. The stock closed 0.8% up in the day.
Parag Milk Foods promoter and family to invest Rs 111 crores, maintain stake at 46% as they plan to raise Rs 316 crores by preferential allotment of equity shares. Stock prices closed 3% up.
With all eyes on IT stocks ahead of their results announcements, Nifty IT gained the most in the day. HCLTech, Wipro, Infosys and TechM featured on the top-gainers list.
Marico says Indian business saw strong double-digit volume growth in the quarter along with their international business. Share prices spiked towards the end of the day, but closed in red.
Britannia featured on the top-gainers list, up by 2.26% after announcing a Rs 62/share interim dividend. The record date is April 10.
Most steel stocks went on to hit fresh 52-week highs after foreign investors were seen raising stakes in the companies. Along with SAIL’s strong production data, steel stocks performed well in the day.
Bajaj Finance and HDFC featured in the top losers section along with many banks.
Shares of Lal Pathlab hit a fresh 52-week high, closing up 6%. The market expects healthy earnings growth, as the company benefits from increased Covid testing in its diagnostic centres and labs. Thyrocare Laboratories was also up 7.42%. PolyMed which manufactures Covid-19 testing kits was up 7%.
FMCG stocks fell in the day, with UBL(down 7.41%), Jubilant Foods(down 3.85%) and ITC(down 3.41%) leading the fall.
Markets Ahead
Markets opened and fell heavily in the first one hour of trade.
One major reason was the strict curfew being imposed in Mumbai from April 5. #mumbailockdown was trending on Twitter. While this surely scared investors, it will not immediately affect many industries except hospitality and services.
In fact, the Hotel industry has called the Maharashtra government’s decision to shut dining ‘catastrophic’.
But what caused markets to really worry was India’s Manufacturing PMI for March falling to 7-month low of 55.4 vs 57.5 in February. This took away the market’s hope in economic recovery even with the Finance Ministry saying that economic indicators are looking strong.
With all these factors combined, financial stocks nosedived in the morning.
The main sector unaffected was IT, with analysts expecting good Q4 reports. All eyes are on their management commentary on future growth guidances. Infosys has hit a market cap of Rs 6 lakh crore, making portfolios rich again.
Today’s fall was not expected in the market. But with every stock except financials gaining back sharply, there is still hope. Watching 14,450 as tomorrow’s lower level and 14,750 as upper level in Nifty. We may most likely see consolidation tomorrow if Bank Nifty doesn’t move crazily.
Expecting IT stocks to continue slowly moving up towards the results announcements. Watching into mid-cap IT stocks as well.
Also, applied for the vaccine yet?
Catch you all on The Stock Market Show tonight!
