Indices end choppy day in the red; Sensex dips 31 pts; banks, metals bleed

Stock market updates: Indices extended their decline into third day on Tuesday as investors fretted over rising cases of Covid-19 cases in the country and amid new localised restrictions. Bulls put brakes on their march after Gujarat decided to impose night curfew in Surat, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, and Vadodara for the next fortnight owing to rising cases of Covid-19. On Monday, Maharashtra announced that hotels, restaurants, cinemas, and multiplexes shall be permitted to operate at only 50 per cent capacity, shopping malls will implement stringent Covid protocols, and all social, religious, political and cultural gatherings have been banned to stem the spread of infection. 

Given this, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended 31 points, or 0.06 per cent, lower at 50,364 levels. On the NSE, the Nifty50 closed at 14,910 levels, down 19 points or 0.13 per cent. 

The number of gainers and losers on both Sensex and Nifty were nearly equally divided with 14 of the 30 constituents on the Sensex and 20 of the 50 on the Nifty ending the day in the green. Asian Paints, Dr Reddy's Labs, HUL, HCL Tech, ITC, Bharti Airtel, and UltraTech Cement were the top index gainers today while Cipla, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, SBI, BPCL, Shreeram Cement, Axis and Divis Labs ended the day in the red.

Broader markets, meanwhile, remained better placed. The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices each ended around 0.4 per cent higher. MphasiS, Hindustan Aeronautics, Adani Power, Shriram Transport Finance, and AU Small Finance Bank from the midcap index, and Intellect Design Arena, Ashiana Housing, Astron Paper Board Mills, and Zensar Technologies from the smallcap index ended as the top performing stocks.

Among key sectoral indices, the Nifty Bank, Private Bank, PSU Bank, and Metal indices skid up to 1.3 per cent on the NSE. On the upside, the Nifty IT and FMCG indices closed 1 per cent higher each.

Global markets

Asian stocks rose on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street’s advance to record highs, as investors anticipated the US Federal Reserve and other central banks meeting this week will keep policies accommodative to help drive a post-pandemic global economic recovery.

An index of Asia-Pacific share markets excluding Japan strengthened 0.69%, led by a 1.2% jump in Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.5% to just below the closely watched 30,000 mark, while the broader Topix added 0.65%.

China’s blue chip CSI 300 index climbed 0.55%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.46%.      

In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.5%, inching closer to a record peak set last year. 

(With inputs from Reuters) 

5:07 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities

Indian benchmark equity indices ended marginally in the negative for the third consecutive session on March 16 after selling in the second half erased the early gains. Nifty opened gap up and made an intra day high at 1040 am. Post that it sold off gradually through the day. At close, the Nifty was down 19 points or 0.13% at 14,910.50.

 

Nifty failed to sustain at higher levels attracting profit booking. However the falls are also limited as bottom fishers keep emerging on the horizon. 14723-15048 is the range for the Nifty; a breach of this band could lead to accelerated move in that direction.  

 

 

5:01 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Sec

FMCG and technology stocks saved the market today, otherwise the Nifty/Sensex would have reached 14,800/50000 again due to weakness in bank stocks and metal companies. The global market was stable and long-term bond yields were also trading in the short-range. We believe that the markets would remain on the sidelines until the FOMC meeting is completed (Results will come Thursday morning in the US) Keep an eye on the 14750/49800 and 15100/51000 range. Long positions should be bought between the levels of 14750/14800 (49800/50000) with a stop loss of 14700/49600 in the near future. We are likely to see trending activity after the FOMC meeting. The focus should be on FMCG and Infrastructure related stocks

4:52 PM

TECH VIEW :: Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities

The short term trend of Nifty is choppy and the market is struggling to sustain the intraday gains. One may expect similar sideways movement with lower levels recovery for the next session. The overall chart pattern of intraday-60 min/daily timeframe signal a chances of an upside bounce from here or from the lows in the short term. Immediate resistance is placed at 15050.

4:38 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking

Markets traded subdued and ended almost unchanged, in continuation to the prevailing consolidation phase. The benchmark started with an uptick, tracking supportive global cues and inched further higher initially but profit-taking in the index majors trimmed all the gains as the session progressed. Consequently, the Nifty ended flat at 14,911 levels. A mixed trend was witnessed across sectoral indices wherein banks, realty and metals were the top losers while IT and FMCG ended in the green. Amid all, the broader indices, midcap and smallcap, outperformed and ended higher by 0.4% and 0.3%.

 

The US markets are doing comparatively well despite caution ahead of the Fed meet and rising bond yields. At the same time, our markets are facing pressure and hovering in a range, after the subdued macroeconomic data and rising in the COVID cases. We feel the prevailing consolidation would end soon. Meanwhile, we suggest avoiding directional trades and preferring hedged positions.

4:24 PM

TECH VIEW :: Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director at Choice Broking

Technically, the benchmark index has traded below its 21-days Moving Averages, which suggest some weakness in the counter for the near term. Moreover, The MACD indicator on the daily basis has given negative crossover, which points out for a negative breath in the index. At present, the Nifty index has a strong resistance at 15060 levels while downside support comes at 14750 levels.

4:17 PM

TECH VIEW :: Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research

The market failed to show resilience to stay above the Nifty 50 Index level of 15000. While it is subject to further price action evolution, The technical factors are aligned to support a lackluster market movement going forward. Any corrective wave down should find support around 14750. As such, The traders are advised to refrain from building a fresh buying position until we witness a correction till 14750 levels. The  volatility is observed to expand in today’s trading session indicating profit booking and distribution of stocks at a higher market level.

 

4:06 PM

TECH VIEW :: Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities

Index opened a day with gains but not able to sustain on positive zone and closed day at 14920 with mild loss & formed a bearish candle on the daily chart. On the higher side, 15000-15050 zone is strong hurdle we have been witnessing selling pressures from mentioned levels so for the fresh upside index need to sustain above 15050 zone, immediate support is coming near 14800-14750 zone any break below said levels can increase selling pressure

3:51 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

Indian market is impacted due to rising crude prices and selling by both FIIs & DIIs. We can expect FII selling to calm down post the Fed policy meet and ease in US bond yield, as an accommodative outlook is expected. The domestic sentiment is suppressed by rising covid-19 cases increasing the risk of a second wave and fall in macro data like production & rise in inflation

3:48 PM

Broader market check :: MidCap index ends higher

3:45 PM

Index contributors :: Heavyweights weigh on Sensex

3:43 PM

Sectoral trends on the NSE

3:42 PM

Sensex Heatmap at Close

3:37 PM

CLOSING BELL

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended 31 points, or 0.06 per cent, lower at 50,364 levels. On the NSE, the Nifty50 closed at 14,910 levels, down 19 points or 0.13 per cent. 

3:30 PM

NEWS ALERT :: IOC declares 2nd interim dividend of Rs 3/share

3:29 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Cabinet approves setting up of Development Finance Institution, says FM

>> The DFI is for infrastructure creation

>> Capital infusion this fiscal is Rs 20,000 crore.

>> FM says DFI will have certain tax benefits for ten years.

 

>> DFS secretary adds: We are giving clean slate for setting up DFI... DFI will have a professional board with 50% eminent directors