The market fell for the second consecutive day of September series F&O contract expiry. The Sensex was down 218 points, or 0.60 per cent, to settle at 36,324.17, while the Nifty 50 Index lost 76 points, or 0.69 per cent, to end at 10,977.55.
Investors also turned cautious after the government raised import tariffs on select goods and the central bank announced measures to ease liquidity concerns.
The BSE Mid-cap Index fell 2.19 per cent, while the Small-cap Index plunged 1.97 per cent. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
Technical view
Sameet Chavan, chief analyst-technical and derivatives, Angel Broking, said: “We opened slightly higher--very much in line with the SGX Nifty; but once again it turned out to be a formality. After some initial consolidation, the index eventually started correcting and in fact the momentum accelerated as the day progressed. In the second half, the index eventually slipped below its important psychological support of 11,000 and then remained stagnant in the last hour of the day.
“There has been no stopping for the recent onslaught started a week back. Although, index has been consolidating in a range since last four days, look at the kind of destruction some of the individual stocks have seen. Such times are extremely difficult to trade or participate in the market and hence, our advice is to stay light and follow strict stop losses for existing positions. As far as index is concerned, 11,035 followed by 11,090 are likely to be seen as immediate hurdles; whereas, on the downside, a sustainable move below 10,953 would extend the correction towards 10,910–10,882 levels.
Market view
VK Sharma, head private client group & capital market strategy, HDFC Securities, said: “Higher crude oil prices and no respite on currency front continue to mar the sentiment. The Federal Open Market Committee of the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.25 per cent. The US markets have closed in the red after the event. Rate sensitive sectors like Real estate and NBFC are taking it on the chin. IT sector is the only one who could brave the fall mainly on back of strength in TCS.”
—Ashwin Punnen