Markets end lower; Sensex dips over 700 pts; Nifty settles below 16,700; Metal, IT stocks underperform

15 Mar 2022 , 03:48 PM

Equity benchmarks snapped their five-day winning run and ended lower today. Indices hit fresh intraday low as selling pressure intensified in mid-afternoon trade.  Investor’s focus shifting towards the upcoming U.S. Federal Reserve meeting as the U.S. central bank is expected to raise rates for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic at its meeting which concludes on Wednesday.

The BSE Sensex slumped 709 points or 1.26 per cent to settle at 55,777, while the broader NSE Nifty closed 208 points or 1.23 per cent lower at 16,663, below 16,700 levels.

The Midcap and smallcap finished lower as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.85 per cent and small-cap shares shed 0.87 per cent.

Among sectoral front, Nifty Metal and Nifty IT underperformed the index by sliding as much as 4.07 per cent and 2.58 per cent, respectively. However, Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG rose 0.57 per cent and 0.17 per cent, respectively.

On the Nifty index, Tata Steel was the top loser, followed by Hindalco, ONGC, Coal India and JSW Steel were also among the laggards. On the other hand, Tata Consumer, M&M, Cipla, Shree Cement and Maruti settled in the green.

Shares of Paytm’s parent One 97 Communications tanked 12.28 per cent to hit a fresh low of Rs592.40 on the BSE as the stock has tumbled by nearly 25 per cent in the last two days after RBI barred Paytm Payments Bank from onboarding new customers.

On the international front, European stocks were down on Tuesday, following another day of sharp declines for Chinese equities, as investors weighed the potential economic implications of the war in Ukraine and the prospect of monetary policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve.