Sensex Today: Indian markets had a gap down beginning on Thursday morning amid weak global sentiments. Frontline indices Nifty50 opened over 200 points lower to trade below 17,550 levels, while the S&P BSE Sensex declined over 800 points to trade at 58,734 levels.
While Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, Ultratech Cement, and IndusInd Bank helped trim losses for the benchmark indices; Infosys, TCS, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank contributed to the sharp cuts.
Broader markets, too, declined in tandem as Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 slipped up to 0.5 per cent. Barring Nifty Realty, all sectoral indices dropped in negative territory. Nifty IT and Nifty Bank faced the worst brunt as both the indices dropped over 1 per cent each.
V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “A highlight of the recent market trend is India’s outperformance among large markets. While the US, Europe and most large emerging markets have turned weak, the Indian market has shown surprising resilience. Since the Fed chief Powell’s ultra-hawkish message last Friday the S&P 500 is down 5.8 per cent while the Nifty is up 0.9 per cent. A major factor driving this outperformance is the return of FIIs into the Indian market. It is important to appreciate the fact that the FIIs investment of Rs 4165 cr on Tuesday in the cash market is the largest buy figure in 2022. This is providing momentum to the market. However, investors have to exercise caution since valuations are high and the global growth environment is not favorable for a sustained bull market. Even while remaining invested, some profit booking may be a good idea.”
Among individual stocks, shares of Ashok Leyland hit 52-week high of Rs 159 per share after the automaker bagged mega order for 1,400 school buses in UAE.
Besides, shares of Biocon hit 52-week low at Rs 297 per share after the pharma major received 11 observations from the US health regulator.
Tirthankar Das, Technical & Derivative Analyst, Retail, Ashika Stock Broking Ltd., said: “On the technical front, Nifty formed a strong bullish candle on the daily time frame and crossed above all crucial short term and long-term averages indicating of a bullish overtone which is likely to prompt another round of rally in the near term. On the oscillator front too, the 14-period RSI has gained a bullish momentum sustaining above the trend deciding level of 60. Though one need to avoid trading aggressively amid global nervousness. Considering the present situation, a bare minimum correction of 38.6 per cent of the entire rally from 15,183 to 17,992 comes around 16900 followed by 50 per cent correction at 16600. On the upside present setup indicates that Nifty can move towards 17,992 followed by 18,114 in the coming days with immediate support stands at 17,350 and Index need to sustain above the said level with some authority for the bulls to strengthen their stance.”
Global Cues
Asian stocks slid and the dollar spiked on Thursday as investors greeted September by selling everything that was not nailed down after a month battered by concerns about aggressive rate hikes from global policymakers.
Tokyo stocks opened lower Thursday extending US losses, with fears growing among investors that there will be no respite from Federal Reserve rate hikes aimed at tamping down inflation. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 1.04 percent, or 291.67 points, at 27,799.86 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.80 percent, or 15.76 points, to 1,947.40.
US stocks ended the month with their fourth straight daily decline on Wednesday, cementing the weakest August performance in seven years as worries about aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve persist.
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