Markets nosedive; Sensex near 55,450, Nifty 50 around 16,540; Banking stocks underperform; Tata Steel top bull; Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's in steep selloff

28 Feb 2022 , 10:40 AM

The week began with benchmarks Sensex and Nifty 50 witnessing a bloodbath amid mixed Asian cues as investors were nerve wrecked with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine which has made everyone wonder if World War 3 is near. Also, investors await the official data on India’s GDP for the October-December period that is scheduled later in the day.

At around 10.39 am, Sensex was trading at 55,349.77 lower by 508.75 points or 0.91%. The benchmark has touched an intraday low of 54,833.50, while the day’s high stood at 55,390.64.

Nifty 50 performed at 16,536.70 below 121.70 points or 0.73%. The benchmark has touched an intraday high and low of 16,537.30 and 16,356.30.

Tata Steel (+4%), Power Grid (+2%), Tech Mahindra, NTPC and Sun Pharma were top gainers on Sensex.

Axis Bank (-2.5%), HDFC Bank (-2.3%), Dr Reddy’s Lab (-2%), followed by IndusInd Bank, HUL, Asian Paint, Maruti Suzuki, Nestle and Kotak Bank shed between 1.5-2%.

Stocks like Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finserv also slipped between 1-1.5%.

Banking, consumer durables and auto stocks were the worst hit. On BSE, the Bankex was the top bear with around 700 points drop. The Auto and Consumer Durables index slumped by 210 points and 400 points. The Finance and FMCG index tumbled more than 1% each. On the contrary, the Metal index outperformed both counterparts and benchmarks by surging over 490 points or 2.5%.

Except for South Korea’s KOSPI and Australia’s S&P/ASX which were marginally up, all other indices on the Asian front were in the red. Markets reacted to news flow on a minute by minute change in Russian stances against Ukraine. US futures also traded lower as sanctions on Russian banks could see currency weakness globally against the Russian ‘ruble’.

Last week, on Friday, on Wall Street, US markets saw their best rally on Dow Jones since November 2020 as the index closes higher by nearly 850 points while Nasdaq jumps over 220 points. This as oversold levels see buying interest with expectations of Russian conflict being short-lived. Bond yields trade near 1.93% while oil prices fall on profit booking.