Indian markets ended lower for the second successive session on March 25 amid unsupportive global cues and selling across sectors on F&O expiry day. At close, the Sensex was down 740.19 points, or 1.51 percent, at 48,440.12 and the Nifty was down 224.50 points, or 1.54 percent, at 14,324.90.
“Weak global cues coupled with derivative expiry kept markets in the red even as we witnessed a bout of short-covering in financials during afternoon trade. Autos bore the brunt of selling today even as we saw steel stocks in demand on hopes of a price rise while select pharma names held out well ahead of a curtailed week ahead,” S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.
Nifty PSU Bank, FMCG, auto, infra, IT and energy indices slipped 2-3 percent. BSE midcap and smallcap indices fell 1.8-2.2 percent.
IOC, Maruti Suzuki, HUL, Bharti Airtel and Coal India were among the major losers on the Nifty, while the gainers included Tata Steel, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, ICICI Bank, HDFC and JSW Steel.
Stocks & sectors
All the S&P BSE sectoral indices ended in the red for the second day, with auto, power, oil & gas, FMCG and realty stocks slipping over 2 percent each.
Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 100 percent was seen in SAIL and Vodafone Idea.
A long buildup was seen in the SAIL, while a short buildup was seen in Maruti Suzuki, Info Edge and Cipla.
More than 100 stocks, including Ambuja Cements, Adani Power, CG Power and JB Chemicals, hit a fresh 52-week high on the BSE.
Technical View
Weakness was seen across the market and the Nifty settled the day with a loss of more than 200 points. “Till the Nifty remains below 14,550 zones, weakness can be seen towards 14,200 and 14,000 zones, while on the upside, hurdles are seen at 14,675 and 14,800 zones,” said Chandan Taparia of Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
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