Bears tightened their grip on the market as Sensex, Nifty recorded fresh 52-week lows on Thursday. Benchmark indices extended losses for the fifth consecutive session, closing 2 per cent lower.

Market bounced back from early gains in opening trade, tracking positive global cues, as the US Fed announced a rate hike on expected lines at 0.75 percentage points. However, the indices erased their early gains to close deep in red, with across-the-board selling.

The BSE Sensex, which recorded a fresh 52-week low of 51,425.48 during the day, closed at 51,495.79, down 1,045.60 points or 1.99 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 53,142.50. The Nifty 50 slipped below the 15,400-mark, closing at 15,360.60, down 331.55 points or 2.11 per cent, near its new 52-week low of 15,335.10. It recorded an intraday high of 15,863.15. 

Over 2,700 stocks decline

The market breadth remained in favour of the decliners with 2,754 stocks declining on the BSE as against 620 that advanced while 100 remained unchanged. Besides, 317 stocks touched a 52-week low and 60 touched a 52-week high. Furthermore, 969 stocks hit the upper circuit as compared to the 144 stocks that were locked in the lower circuit. 

Only two stocks — Nestle India and Britannia — closed in the green on the Nifty 50. Hindalco, Tata Steel, ONGC, Coal India and Tata Motors were the top losers. 

Inflation concerns and aggressive monetary policy tightening have been weighing on investor sentiments. Relentless FII selling has added to the negative market sentiment.

S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities, said, “Fed effect coupled with a delayed start to the southwest monsoon wreaked havoc as the Nifty caved in below 15,400 for the first time in the last one year.”

“As the street prepares for further front-loaded action by central banks in a bid to anchor spiralling inflation, its impact on consumer spending kept investors on the backfoot. A mere glance at the stocks hitting one-year lows today is reflective of the risk-off mood on the street as only a handful of FMCG stocks displayed a green tick among front-liners,” Ranganathan added.

According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, “Market is catching up to the reality that tight monetary policy is the lone card on the table lingering on high inflation. As a result, the global economy is bound to slow down further, impacting corporate earnings, as indicated by m-o-m [month-on-month] fall in US retail sales.”

“Valuations continue to trade on the marginally upper side of long-term averages and FIIs continue the selling mode. The stocks trading at high valuations and sectors like IT and metals are the most impacted,” added Nair.

All in red

All sectoral indices closed in the red with metals leading the fall.

Nifty Metal closed over 5 per cent lower. Nifty Realty and Nifty PSU Bank were down nearly 3 per cent each. Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Auto, Nifty IT and Nifty Consumer Durables each closed over 2 per cent lower. 

Broader market under pressure

Broader market witnessed increased pressure. 

Nifty Midcap 50 was down 2.45 per cent, while Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 3.49 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was down 2.34 per cent, while S&P BSE Smallcap was down 2.87 per cent.

The volatility index rose 3.25 per cent to 22.87.

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