Investors book profit day ahead of RBI policy outcome; Sensex falls 568 pts

CLOSING BELL: The NSE Nifty50, held the crucial 16,400-mark to shut shop at 16,416, down 153 points

MARKET LIVE: Sensex down 600 pts, Nifty tests 16,400; RIL, Airtel off lows

CLOSING BELL

Stock market highlights: Benchmark indices ended 1 per cent lower on Tuesday as investors booked profit in equities a day ahead of the RBI's monetary policy outcome. The 10-year government bond yield, meanwhile, ended 0.4 per cent up at 7.53 per cent.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 793 points intra-day before closing 568 points lower at 55,107. The NSE Nifty50, held the crucial 16,400-mark to shut shop at 16,416, down 153 points.

Consumer durables, realty, IT, and financials were among the worst hit pockets with Titan, UPL, Dr Reddy's Labs, Britannia, L&T, HUL, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, TCS, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Infosys, and Tech M sheding between 1.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent.

On the upside, the Nifty Auto, and Oil and Gas indices settled in the green, with ONGC, Coal India, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, M&M, Bajaj Auto, and BPCL leading from the front.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices dropped up to 0.88 per cent.

Global markets

Global stock markets were mixed Tuesday after a bond sell-off on Wall Street fuelled anxiety about a possible U.S. economic slowdown and Australia raised interest rates. London, Shanghai and Hong Kong declined. Frankfurt opened higher and Tokyo gained. READ MORE

4:13 PM

Nifty tech view at close: Upside resistance placed at 16,600-16,800

The Nifty Bears took control once again leading to a fall in the index towards the crucial support zone 16,400-16,350.

The volatility is likely to continue ahead of the RBI policy and a clear-cut direction will be visible post the outcome.

The upside resistance is placed at the 16,600-16,800 zone where heavy call writing is visible

The Bank Nifty index continues to witness selling pressure ahead of the RBI policy and ended on a negative note.

The index is stuck in a broad range between 34,500-36,000 levels and a break on either side will lead to further trending action.

The undertone remains weak as long as it stays below the level of 36,000 where the highest open interest is built up on the call side.

Views by Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivative Analyst at LKP Securities

Nifty, market, sensex, stocks, investors, growth

4:10 PM

Rupee trims some losses to close at 77.71 vs dollar

n April 7, the AAP claimed that while the Bharatiya Janata Party-governed states were in huge debt, Delhi was the only “state” with a surplus Budget.

4:07 PM

EXPERT VIEW: RBI growth, inflation forecast to determine market trend

The volatility in the market is forcing investors to stay sidelined ahead of the RBI’s policy announcement.

The market has factored a hike up to 50bps of repo rate & CRR, but any further stricter measures to clamp liquidity due to lingering inflation will have ramifications on the market trend.

Apart from the monetary measures, the RBI’s guidance on growth and inflation forecast will determine the market trend.

Views by Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

4:04 PM