Markets close lower; Banking stocks underperform

Markets witnessed a big selloff as across the board long unwinding was seen throughout the trading session as a spike in US Bond yields spook investor sentiment.

Bank Nifty outperformed the Nifty index by ~0.4%, with both the indices closing in the red.

Financial heavyweights like SBI, HDFC Twins & ICICI Bank trended lower along with unwinding of long positions.

Nifty Midcap index closed on lifetime highs as the broader markets continued to outperform the benchmark indices.

Market breadth ended in the favour of the advances with the advance/decline ratio closing at 1:1x. Nifty and Bank Nifty saw an unwinding of long during the day.

On the options front (March 04, 2021 expiry), across the board short selling was seen in call option strikes as Nifty trended lower. India Vix index closed at 24.4, up ~10%.