Investors lost Rs 8.04 lakh crore in last five trading sessions as rising Covid -19 cases in India and surging bond yields in the US forced investors to seek safe havens. Market cap of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs 201.22 lakh crore today against Rs 209.26 lakh crore on March 10,2021.
Amid the ongoing correction, Sensex has lost 2,063 points and Nifty has tumbled 617 points since March 10. The five-session loss in Indian benchmark indices comes amid US 10-year bond yields rising to a high of 1.74% today against 1.54% on March 10.
The rise in bond yields came after US Federal Reserve said its key interest rate would be kept near zero through 2023 even it forecast inflation picking up.
However, Wall Street hit a new high after the Fed said this year's US economic growth should rebound to 6.5% - its strongest since the 1980s - and inflation will climb above 2% for the first time in years.
Sensex, Nifty end 1% lower for fifth session: Five factors behind the market crash
This led the Asian and Indian markets higher today. However , Indian indices saw profit booking in the last hour of trade and ended deep into the red amid rising Covid-19 cases hitting investor sentiment.
Sensex ended 585.10 points or 1.17 per cent lower at 49,216.52. Nifty slumped 163.45 points or 1.11 per cent to 14,557.85.
Earlier, Sensex rallied 495 points in the day to 50,296 against previous close of 49,801.
On Sensex, HCL Tech was the top loser losing 4 per cent, followed by Infosys, Dr Reddy's, TCS, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra and NTPC.
On the other hand, ITC, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Maruti and Bharti Airtel were among the gainers rising up to 3.25%.
On Sensex, 21 stocks ended in the red.
BSE mid cap and small cap indices lost 267 points and 327, points respectively in trade today.
IT stocks led the losses with BSE IT index slipping 801 points to 25,788 against previous close of 26,589.
Banking stocks too led the indices lower with BSE bankex losing 466 points to 38,136. Bank Nifty too fell 372 points to 33,856.
Commenting on the technical outlook for Nifty, Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Senior Technical Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas said, "Nifty with a gap up opening tested its crucial hourly moving averages. These averages induced the bears for a fresh round of selling. As a result, the index posted a negative daily close for the fifth consecutive session. On the downside, Nifty tested its daily lower Bollinger Band where the selling was absorbed for the day. Going ahead, the swing low of 14467 & lower end of a sideways channel i.e. 14400 will be the key support zone, which can attract some buying interest. The overall structure shows that the index is in a prolonged consolidation phase & is approaching lower end of the range."
Market breadth was negative with 821 stocks ending higher against 2160 closing lower on BSE.
However, 145 stocks hit 52-week highs against 52 shares falling to their 52-week lows. Market heavyweights such as Infosys and Reliance Industries closed 3.67% and 2.22% lower, respectively.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said, "Nifty has closed at the lowest since February 26, though in terms of intra-day low it has gone below even that. Indian markets continue to perform the worst in the region as resurgence of Covid-19 has led to fears of the momentum in the economy slowing down. A close below 14,529 would mean that the Nifty is in the midst of an intermediate correction. 14,281-14,478 could be the support band for the Nifty while 14,639-14,696 could provide resistance."