Bears maul Sensex, Nifty in last one hour of trade. More pain ahead?
Premium- Apart from FIIs selling, rising energy prices, geopolitical concerns, and rising US bond yields are key concerns for the Indian stock market: Analysts
Indian stocks markets ended sharply lower today after intraday gains were wiped out in the final hour of trade. Sentiment took a U-turn after Russia said it was starting a new stage of what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine. The NSE Nifty 50 index closed 1.25% lower at 16,958, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 700 points to 56,463.15, after rising around 0.5% each earlier in the session.
Russia’s military pressed on with its offensive in southern and eastern Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying Moscow had launched a new campaign focused on conquering the Donbas region.
“Bears attacked the market, especially in the last hour. HDFC twins along with Infosys remained key laggards for the second consecutive day dragging the market sharply. The market remained resilient throughout the day but then there was a sudden sell-off in the last hour and we can say that there could be large FIIs selling post 2:30 pm. Apart from FIIs selling, rising energy prices, geopolitical concerns, and rising US bond yields are key concerns for the market," said Parth Nyati, founder of Tradingo.
Private-sector lenders HDFC Bank extended losses to a ninth session and settled down 3.8%. On the other hand, Reliance Industries closed up 3.8% at a two-week high after Morgan Stanley added it to its global emerging market focus list, citing "multiple positive triggers lining up for the conglomerate to outperform".
Among other top losers, Infosys fell 3.5% and HDFC 5.5%.
Technically, Mr Nyati said, the “Nifty has slipped below its important moving averages and psychological level of 17000. However, 16900-16800 is another critical support zone that the bulls need to defend. Otherwise, we can expect more pain in the coming days. On the upside, 17150-17300 will act as an immediate supply zone while 20-DMA of 17500 is a key hurdle."
Bank Nifty, Nyati said, has also slipped “below 200-DMA. However 36000 is a psychological support level; below this, we can expect more pain towards the 35000 level. On the upside, 36700-37000 is an immediate supply zone while 37500 is the next hurdle."
Nifty Put-Call ratio, he said, fell to 0.76 level whereas FIIs' long exposure in index future has also slipped to 45%. “Both are in oversold territory therefore short covering could be one hope for the bulls."
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Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said “going by the high volumes on down days, FPIs seem to be aggressive sellers in the markets and hence if this continues, support levels may get broken one after the other."