Markets closed lower; Banking stocks witness a nose dive

Markets witnessed a sharp selloff during the afternoon trade as across the board selling frenzy weighed in.

Bank Nifty underperformed the Nifty index by 0.5% with both the indices closing at intraday lows for the second consecutive trading session.

Financial stocks like SBI, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank & HDFC twins were among the top underperformer, contributing majority of Bank Nifty’s loses.

Nifty Midcap index closed, ~2.5% lower.

Market breadth ended in the favour of the declines with the advance/decline ratio closing at 1:5x. Nifty and Bank Nifty saw an addition of short positions during the day.

On the options front (March 18, 2021 expiry), across the board short selling was seen in call option strikes as Nifty trended lower. India Vix index closed at 20.3, up ~0.4%.