Today’s Market Summarised
A highly volatile Tuesday with fear and confusion leading the fall.
NIFTY opened the day at 18,348, with a small gap-up. Just after the opening, it tested 18,350 level and fell nearly 150 points towards 18,200. The recovery after that was not strong enough and an even larger fall was seen towards the end. NIFTY ended the day at 18,113, down 195 points or 1.07%.
BANK NIFTY opened the day at 38,381 and stayed stable. The index slowly gained strength and shot up once it crossed 38,500. Just after 2 PM, selling pressure was seen throughout the market and the index fell 750 points from the day-high. Bank Nifty ended the day at 38,210, down 5 points or 0.02%.
All sectoral indices closed in the red today. NIFTY Realty (-2.6%), NIFTY AUTO (-2.3%) and NIFTY Metal (-2.2%) fell more than 2% each. Only Bank Nifty (-0.02%) stayed flat.
Asian markets closed all in the red today. European markets are also currently trading in the red.
News Picks
Axis Bank (+1.7%) saw buying in the day with news of it picking up Citibank’s retail portfolio. You can read more about Citi’s exit from India, here.
Tata Consumer (-4.4%) lost all gains from last Friday and closed as the top-loser of NIFTY 50. Maruti (-4.2%), UltraCem Co (-4%), Eicher (-3.8%) and Grasim (-3.4%) closed among the top-losers, losing last week’s gains.
Cement and construction stocks fell in the day led by DBL (-8%), Ambuja Cement (-6.6%), India Cements (-6.2%), ACC (-5.2%), Ramco Cement (-4.9%) and DLF (-4.7%).
Meanwhile, Prestige (+2.7%) closed at an all-time high after reporting record quarterly sales.
Markets Ahead
NIFTY let go of the last 4 days and filled the gap-up between last Tuesday and Wednesday. It was an interesting sight, seeing how global markets went from green in the morning to all red by the afternoon.
Bond yields across the world rising in anticipation of the Fed rate hike in March is seen as the reason for the panic selling. Even between the panic, technicals were followed with Bank Nifty finding resistance at last week’s high and Nifty taking support at last Monday’s high.
We will have to look at how the U.S. markets open tonight after a 3-day weekend. If the selling pressure continues in the U.S. market, along with fear of tensions between the U.S and Russia, our markets will feel the pinch tomorrow.
Bank Nifty has still closed above its support of 38,000 and we will have to watch for this level tomorrow. Today’s high can also be looked at as a resistance for the index!
See you on The Stock Market Show at 7 PM!
