Sensex closes 205 points lower at 32,968, Nifty holds 10,100 amid March derivatives expiry, weak global markets

The Sensex and Nifty closed lower on the last trading day of the current fiscal amid expiry of March derivatives contracts.  A weak closing in Asian and US markets also hit sentiment on the Dalal Street. Indian markets will remain closed on Thursday and Friday on account of Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday. While the Sensex closed 205 points or 0.62% lower at 32,968 level, the Nifty fell 70 points to 10,113 points.

Metal and banking stocks led the losses with BSE metal index and bankex falling 2.04% ( 276 points) and 0.65% (176 points), respectively.

PNB was the top loser on BSE Bankex falling 3.83%. ICICI Bank (1.94%), Federal Bank (1.81%) and SBI (1.48%) were the other losers on the index. All BSE sectoral indexes except consumer durables and oil and gas indexes closed in the red , signalling weakness in the market.

Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager-Equities at BNP Paribas Mutual Fund said, "Expiry of March derivatives contracts coupled with the last day of the financial year lent volatility to the markets and kept investors on their toes. Key benchmark indices started the day on a negative note amid weakness in global stocks and extended losses to finally close the day lower. Tech stocks in the US continued to be weighed down by the furore created over the use of social media data by a leading data analytics firm. Both the benchmark Sensex and the Nifty lost over 0.50%, for the day. All the sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded in the red with metals and PSU banking stocks succumbing to strong selling pressure."

On the Sensex, Tata Steel (3.25%),  Bharti Airtel (3.05%) and Adani Ports (2.93%) were top losers.

Wipro (3.27%), Coal India (2.94%) and Hero MotoCorp (2.30%) were the top gainers.

Top BSE losers were Kwality Ltd (19.96%),  Delta Corp (16.06%) and  Fortis Healthcare (13.37%).

The Fortis Healthcare stock closed lower on concerns over valuation of a demerger of its hospital business to Manipal Hospitals and TPG Capital, creating the largest provider of healthcare services in India by revenue.

Sameet Chavan, chief analyst, technical and derivatives at Angel Broking said with a near term view, the tide has certainly turned lower post the union budget and is likely to continue for some time as well. For the coming week, 10230 - 10350 would be seen as a strong resistance zone; whereas, on the lower side, 10049 followed by 9951 would act as a crucial support zone. As long as Nifty remains within this range of 10230 - 9951, we expect the consolidation to continue, during which lot of individual stocks would provide better trading opportunities.

Market breadth was negative with 924 stocks closing higher against 1713 ending lower on the BSE.

Global markets

Shares fell in Europe and Asia on Wednesday as tech stocks extended losses following sell-offs of their US peers overnight. Investors are selling technology-related shares on concern governments might tighten scrutiny over Facebook after it was revealed that users' data was shared with a consulting firm affiliated with President Donald Trump.

Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 1 percent to 6,930.51. France's CAC 40 slid 1.4 percent to 5,043.96 and Germany's DAX lost 1.6 percent to 11,784.17. Futures augured weak starts on Wall Street. Dow futures fell 0.3 percent while S&P futures also retreated 0.3 percent.

Japan's Nikkei 225 sank 1.3 percent to 21,031.31 and South Korea's Kospi slid 1.3 percent to 2,419.29. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index sank 2.5 percent to 30,022.53 while China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.4 percent to 3,122.29. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 retreated 0.7 percent to 5,789.50. Stocks in Taiwan, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries also fell.

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