Sensex dips nearly 69 points at closing, Nifty ends below 17,100

Benchmark indices closed in the red for the sixth consecutive session on Wednesday amid high volatility.

Market bounced back during the moring trade, after five consecutive session of losses, tracking mixed global cues as investors closely watched the developments regarding the Russia-Ukraine crisis and remained volatile through the day. Indices closed marginally lower, dragged by auto and oil & gas stocks.

The BSE Sensex closed at 57,232.06, down 68.62 points or 0.12 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 57,733.37 and a low of 57,109.24. The Nifty 50 closed at 17,063.25, down 28.95 points or 0.17 per cent, near the day’s low of 17,027.85. It recorded an intraday high of 17,220.70.

Breadth turns positive

The market breadth, however, turned positive with 2,197 stocks advancing on the BSE as against 1,167 that declined while 96 remained unchanged. Furthermore, 13 stocks hit the upper circuit as compared to the 7 stocks that were locked in the lower circuit. Besides, 76 stocks touched a 52-week high level and 56 touched a 52-week low.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, “As global markets turned positive, domestic indices opened the day on a positive note, however, witnessed high volatility and succumbed to selling pressure to close the day in favour of bears.”

“The impact of geopolitical uncertainties and soaring fuel costs will continue to keep markets across the globe highly volatile,” said Nair.

Mitul Shah, Head Of Research at Reliance Securities said, “Domestic equities ended lower after positive opening. There is hopes that the sanction by the west may not hit Russian oil supplies.”

“US equities cut-off losses as President Biden announced modest sanctions against Russia but faded again into the close. President Joe Biden called Russia’s move to deploy military units to separatist regions of Ukraine as the beginning of a Russian invasion. This led to deterioration of diplomatic resolution for tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine and potential price hikes due to the same, could create a further communication and policy complexity for the central bank,” Shah said.

Kotak Bank, Titan,IndusInd Bank, Tata Consumer and Maruti were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while ONGC, Hero Motocorp, NTPC, L&T and JSW Steel were the top laggards. 

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd said, “Markets traded lackluster in a narrow range and finally ended marginally lower. Initially, the benchmark opened marginally higher however lack of follow-up buying capped upside. It hovered in a narrow band for most of the session which finally ended with a breakdown.”

“Meanwhile, noticeable action on the broader front kept the participants busy. Mostly sectoral indices, barring realty, ended flat to marginally lower in line with the benchmark,” said Mishra.

Realty, PSU Bank in focus

On the sectoral front, all indice except auto, financial services, IT and oil & gas closed in the green with Realty, PSU Bank and Consumer Durables recording the highest gains.

Nifty Realty was up over 3 per cent while Nifty PSU Bank closed over 1 per cent higher. Nifty Consumer Durables was up 0.90 per cent at closing.

Meanwhile Nifty Auto was down 0.21 per cent while Nifty Financial Services was down 0.19 per cent. Nifty IT was down 0.04 per cent while Nifty Oil & Gas was down 0.07 per cent at closing. 

Broader indices outperform

Broader indices closed in the green, outperforming the benchmarks. 

Nifty Midcap 50 was up 0.33 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 0.72 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 0.60 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was up 0.93 per cent.

The volatility index softened 7.95 per cent to 24.54.

“Broader markets outperformed benchmark indices while on the sectoral front, realty stocks attracted buyers,” said Nair.

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