Benchmark indices closed lower for the fifth consecutive session on Tuesday amid weak global cues.

Market opened on a weak note and witnessed a sharp fall during the morning trade amid across the board selling. Markets remained on edge after geopolitical tensions between Russia Ukraine intensified following the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s tough stance, recognising Luhansk & Donetsk regions as separate Republics from Ukraine. Indices recovered during closing hours from the day’s low, but closed in the red.

The BSE Sensex closed at 57,300.68, down 382.91 points or 0.66 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 57,505.85 and a low of 56,394.85. The Nifty 50 which slipped below the 17,000 mark, recording an intraday low of 16,843.80, closed at 17,092.20, down 114.45 points or 0.67 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 17,148.55.

Over 2600 stocks decline

The market breadth continued to remain in favour of the decliners with 2,667 stocks declining on the BSE as against 689 that advanced while 85 remained unchanged. Furthermore, 13 stocks hit the upper circuit as compared to two stocks that were locked in the lower circuit. Besides, 176 stocks touched a 52-week low level and 86 touched a 52-week high.

The volatility index rose 16.41 per cent to 26.66.

Aishvarya Dadheech, Fund Manager, Ambit Asset Management said, “The geopolitical risk of the Ukraine-Russian standoff is adversely impacting the global market, and India is no exception. Both Russian indices and currency, have witnessed the biggest fall since 2008. This dispute alongside the potential threat of rising rates by global central banks to fight inflation is dampening the sentiment of investors.”

“In the Indian context, investors were concerned about events like state election outcomes & central banks raising interest rates, whereas the third dimension of war has been added to the investor’s plate. This is fuelling volatility to unprecedented levels,” Dadheech said. 

According to Parth Nyati, Founder, Tradingo, “We are in monthly F&O expiry week, therefore, we could see a surge in volatility whereas March is going to be a very volatile month due to lots of events like geopolitical uncertainty, results of state elections, US Fed meeting, etc. The overall trend is bullish but we may have high volatility over the next month.”

M&M, Bajaj Finserv, Hero Motocorp, Eicher Motor and Hindalco were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while Tata Steel, BPCL, TCS, SBI Life and Tata Motors were the top losers. 

All in red

On the sectoral front, all indices closed in red.

Nifty Realty was down nearly 3 per cent. Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Metal were each down over 1 per cent.

Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty IT, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Oil & Gas each closed nearly 1 per cent lower. 

Broader market under pressure

Midcaps and smallcaps continued to witness selling pressure with broader indices closing in the red. 

Nifty Midcap 50 was down 0.81 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 2.18 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was down 0.70 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 1.62 per cent.

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