The bears tightened their grip as profit booking for the fifth consecutive day dragged the Nifty below 14,700 and the Sensex tanked more than 1,100 points on February 22. At close, the Sensex was down 1,145.44 points, or 2.25 percent, at 49,744.32 and the Nifty was down 306.10 points, or 2.04 percent, at 14,675.70.
Rising restrictions due to a spike in coronavirus infections and weak global cues hit the domestic market sentiment, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. The fall was aggravated by a sharp rise in volatility because of the monthly F&O expiry week. FPI inflows which were leading the rally slowed down due to global vulnerabilities from rising bond yield and inflation, he said.
“However, this is a buy-on-dip market, a short-term correction will trigger new buying, as economic fundamentals have improved, with more focus on industrial and cyclicals,” Nair said.
Except the Nifty metal (up 1.6 percent), all other sectoral indices ended in the red, with pharma, IT, PSU bank, auto, energy and infra indices slipping 2 percent each.
Broader markets outperformed the benchmarks, with BSE midcap and smallcap indices falling over a percent each.
Tech Mahindra, M&M, Dr Reddy’s Labs, ITC and IndusInd Bank were major losers on the Nifty. Gainers included Adani Ports, JSW Steel, Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel and ONGC.
Stocks & sectors
On the BSE, realty, IT, auto and capital goods sectors fell 2 percent each, while the metal index added 2.2 percent.
A volume spike of more than 100 percent was seen in Havells India, L&T, Sun TV Network and Nestle India.
Long buildup was seen in Muthoot Finance, Jubilant FoodWorks and HDFC Bank, while short buildup was seen in L&T, Tata Power and Dr Lal PathLabs.
More than 200 stocks, including Jubilant FoodWorks, Vedanta, Sterlite Technologies and Hindalco, hit a fresh 52-week high on the BSE.
Technical View
The Nifty formed a Bearish Belt Hold kind of candle on the daily scale as it remained in a bear grip and continues its formation of lower highs-lower lows.
“Till the Nifty remains below 14,800 zones, weakness could continue towards the next key support of 14,500 and 14,400 zones, while on the upside hurdles are seen at 15,000 and 15,150 zones,” said Chandan Taparia of Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
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