BSE benchmark Sensex today plummeted over 654 points in its biggest drop in nearly three months to end at 27,457.58 on across the board selling as geo-political issues in the Middle East triggered capital outflow concerns.
Participants were also jittery as Thursday saw expiry of monthly derivative contracts, brokers said, adding that global sentiment was weak after US equities fell overnight reacting to a surprise fall in durable goods orders for February.
Crude oil surged by almost 6 per cent on supply concerns after Saudi Arabia carried out air strikes against Huthi rebels in Yemen today.
In the local currency market, the Indian rupee weakened by another 32 paise to 62.65 (intra-day) against the dollar.
Market Wrap Up by Alex Mathews, Head Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services
Today market opened with a downside gap due to geo political tensions and later witnessed heavy sell-off partly because of March F&O expiry. Many of the investors were stayed sidelines without committing large trades ahead of long holidays next week. The short term RSI (Relative Strength Index) is already entered in the oversold region and it can help the market to recover tomorrow.
Nifty closed at 8342 down around 188 points. The market breadth was negative as there were seen 926 stocks advancing against 1841 stocks declining. The Nifty volatility index, India VIX stood at 15.1625 up around 15.36%.
The mid-cap and small-cap sectors ended down around 0.84% and 1% respectively.
Barring capital goods which closed flat at 0.08%, all other sectors closed lower. The major sectorial losers for the day were IT and Banking, which closed down around 2.63% and 2.52% respectively.
In the stocks’ front, the losers were PNB and HDFC which closed down around 4.47% and 4.11% respectively whereas the gainers were Ultratech cement and Bharti Airtel which closed up around 1.88% and 1.27% respectively.
The FIIs were buyers in the cash markets segment, bought shares worth Rs 813.19 crore on Wednesday, 24 March 2015. On the other hand the DIIs were also net buyers on 24 March 2014, bought shares worth Rs 96.52 crore as per the provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The European markets fell on the back of mounting tensions in Middle East. The US index futures were also down.
The BSE 30-share Sensex remained in the negative zone through out the session as selling pressure gathered momentum.
It ended 654.25 points, or 2.33 per cent down, at 27,457.58, its weakest closing since January 14.
The index has now lost 1,278.80 points in seven straight sessions. The index’s drop today was its steepest since 854.85-point fall on January 6.
“The F&O expiry and potential geo-political issues in the Middle East, likely to have impacted markets,” said Dipen Shah, Head of Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities.
Dipen Shah, Head of Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities
The F&O expiry and potential geo-political issues in the Middle East, likely to have impacted markets today.
Going ahead, there are no immediate triggers for the markets on the domestic front and hence, markets may continue to be dictated by global factors. Quarterly results are also expected to be subdued. Further action on the fiscal or monetary front, if any, can give some upside to the market. However, we remain positive on the medium – to – long term prospects of the markets based on our expectations of further fiscal reforms and a pick-up in the economic growth over the period.
Market heavyweights like HDFC plunged 5.32 per cent, Wipro fell 4.01 per cent, Sesa Sterlite tumbled 3.90 per cent, Infosys declined 3.30 per cent and SBI lost 3.18 per cent.
Other prominent losers were Coal India, HDFC Bank, Hind Unilever, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, ONGC, Hindalco, TCS, NTPC, Tata Steel, Dr Reddy’s and RIL.
Bharti Airtel, GAIL, L&T and Hero MotoCorp ended higher.
The 50-share NSE index Nifty tumbled below the crucial 8,400-mark by losing 188.65 points, or 2.21 per cent, at 8,342.15 after shuttling between 8,499.45 and 8,325.35.
Sectorwise, the BSE IT index suffered the most by losing 2.63 per cent, followed by Banking (2.52 pc), Metal (2.24 pc), Oil & Gas (1.99 pc), Healthcare (1.90 pc), FMCG (1.42 pc), Auto (1.50 pc), Realty (1.48 pc), Power (0.78 pc) and Consumer Durables (0.85 pc). Selling pressure also dragged down the BSE Smallcap index by 1 per cent and Midcap index by 0.84 percent.
Foreign Portfolio Investors bought shares worth net Rs 813.19 crore yesterday as per provisional data.
Market Outlook by Vinod Nair, Head-Fundamental Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services
Global concerns had a cascading impact to the expiry day on which India was already consolidating. The current Nifty return YTD is only 0.7% including -6.3% in March. As per historical trend April is likely to have a volatile start given the negative performance in March. This is linked to the annual budget expectation and outlook. At this good year, the current return during Jan-Feb’2015 is whooping 6.7% (up 10% to new high), investors have therefore taken this opportunity to book profit under the EMs volatility and unpredictable budget session. As per the outcome from second shift of budget-session and no further negative surprise from Q4, we will move ahead.
