The Nifty formed a bearish candle on the daily charts.
Indian markets started off on a strong note on April 15 but failed to hold onto gains and closed in the red on weak global cues and worries over the extended lockdown likely to hit India Inc. in the coming quarters as well.
Global markets slipped as warnings of the worst global recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s underlined the economic damage done during the coronavirus pandemic even as some countries try to re-open for business, said a Reuters report.
The International Monetary Fund predicted that the world this year would suffer its steepest downturn since the Great Depression.
Tracking weak global trends, the bulls failed to keep the momentum going, which led to more than 1,000-point drop in the Sensex from its intraday high. The Nifty50 also gave up the psychologically important 9,000-level it had reclaimed in intraday trade.
Let’s look at the final tally on D-Street: the S&P BSE Sensex fell 310 points to 30,379 while the Nifty50 ended at 8,925, down 68 points.
Sectorally, the action was seen in FMCG, realty, capital goods as well as metals while profit-taking was visible in banks, finance, auto, oil & gas and telecom stocks.
The broader markets outperformed the benchmarks. The S&P BSE Midcap index was up 1.3 percent while the S&P BSE Smallcap index closed with gains of 1.1 percent.
The government in the morning released revised guidelines for the extended lockdown, allowing some business activity to reduce the pain for millions of people, especially the daily-wage earners, but failed to lift the sentiment.
"Indian markets seemingly set aside the economic implications of the extended lockdown, although it lost ground on the negative opening in the European markets. With the earnings season starting, management commentary on the impact of COVID-19 on their respective businesses will be in focus,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services told Moneycontrol.
COVID-19 is the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.
“Almost all sectors have been affected by the lockdown and the market will try to measure the future financial impact of this, rather than focusing on the previous quarter numbers. This is expected to drive stock-specific moves in the market in the coming days,” he said.
IT companies kick off the earnings season and investors will be keen on how the virus spread has impacted their services and the locations in which those services are offered.
Wipro, in the evening, reported 5.3 percent sequential fall in its consolidated profit at Rs 2,326.1 crore for the quarter ended March 2020. The company didn’t provide revenue guidance for the April-June quarter on account of uncertainty over COVID-19.
Top Nifty gainers include Shree Cements, Britannia Industries, HUL and UPL
Top Nifty losers include HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Hero MotoCorp and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Stocks & sectors
Sectorally, the action was seen in the S&P BSE FMCG index, which was up 4.3 percent, followed by the S&P BSE Realty index that gained 1.9 percent and the S&P BSE Capital Goods index ended closed with gains of 1.3 percent.
Profit-taking was visible in the Bankex that was down 2.4 percent. The S&P BSE Finance fell 2.3 percent and the S&P BSE Auto index was down 1.6 percent.
A volume spike of more than 100% was seen in stocks like Bosch, Wipro, Apollo Hospitals, UPL, Motherson Sumi, and HUL.
Long Buildup was seen in stocks like HUL, Escorts, Motherson Sumi, Glenmark, and Ramco Cements
Short Buildup was seen in stocks like JustDial, TVS Motor, Wipro, and Muthoot Finance.
More than 30 stocks on the BSE bucked the trend to hit a fresh 52-week high. These include Sanofi India, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Cipla, Sun Pharma and Bajaj Healthcare.
Stocks in news
Motherson Sumi Systems: The share jumped 13 percent on fundraising plans. The board of the auto components major has given in-principle approval to raise Rs 1,000 crore to enhance liquidity during uncertain times of coronavirus pandemic, according to a company statement.
Metropolis Healthcare: The share price was down 6 percent after private equity giant Carlyle launched a block deal to near exit the multinational pathology chain owner, sources told Moneycontrol.
L&T: The share price added over a percent after the company received two contracts from National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC).
Titan Company: Shares were down almost 2 percent after Rakesh Jhunjhunwala pared his stake during the March quarter. The ace investor reduced his stake in Titan by 1,03,25,250 shares, or 17.39 percent, quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).
UPL: The share jumped over 7 percent after the company reassured investors about demand and business operations. Demand for crop protection products remains strong and all its factories around the world are in operation, it said in a filing to the exchanges.
Technical View
The Nifty formed a bearish candle on the daily charts.
The last three sessions of price action is suggesting that the Nifty is in a consolidation mode, with 8,900 as the lower base of this minor consolidation zone.
A breach of 8,900 can induce more selling pressure but weakness will be confirmed on a close below 8,792, which could take the index towards 8,550-7,850
Contrary to this, strength in the index shall be expected on a close above 9,112.
Traders are advised to avoid buying the dip but can consider fresh long positions on a close above 9,112 for an initial target of 9,390.Time to show-off your poker skills and win Rs.25 lakhs with no investment. Register Now!
