Markets trade lower; Nifty 50 around 17,200; Banking, Consumer Durable stocks nosedive

24 Mar 2022 , 09:36 AM

Indian markets nosedived on Thursday tracking weakness in global markets as Russian-Ukraine tension continues to mount the investors sentiments. The selloff at home was due to weak global cues as appetite for equities soured after brent crude oil prices rebound to above $120 per barrel, driven by tight supply fears linked to the Ukraine war.

While huge selloff in banking, financial, consumer durables stocks pushed benchmarks Sensex and Nifty 50 off the cliff while FMCS, IT, media and metal stocks hold the gains to support the overall markets position.

At around 9:42 AM, Sensex was trading at 57,311.65 below 373.17 points or 0.65%. Nifty 50 performed at 17,177.80 lower by 67.85 points or 0.4%.

In terms of sectoral indices, on NSE, the Banking and Consumer Durables index shed nearly 500 and 200 points respectively, while the IT index advanced more than 100 points outperforming counterparts. 

Coal India, ONGC, Hindalco, Dr Reddy and JSW Steel were top gainers on Nifty 50.

Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors plunged between 1-3.5%.

Further, the Union Government on Wednesday has revoked the provisions of Disaster Management Act for containing the coronavirus pandemic after two years amid a sharp drop in covid cases in the country. Accordingly, covid curbs will end on March 31 after 2 years of restrictions however, social distancing norms and use of masks need to be followed properly.

TCS and HDFC stocks will be focus on today’s trade as TCS’ Rs18,000 crore buyback offer subscribed 7.5 times on last day (Wednesday) for tendering of shares. Also, country’s largest mortgage company HDFC approved home loans over Rs 2 lakh crore in FY22 so far. 

On the global front, Asian markets opened weakly in sync with the US cues as the Japanese ‘Nikkei’ slipped over 300 points in early trade after an almost 1700 points rally in the last 7 days. Most Asian markets have seen an excellent comeback in the past week & will see profit booking as markets react to oil & geopolitics.

Overnight, on Wall Street, US markets see weakness after a sharp rally as the fresh spike in oil prices sees inflation expectations sell stocks related to financials. Nasdaq also sees weakness after a superb rally of almost 13% in less than 10 days. Oil prices spike to hit US@122 as geopolitical tensions see supply disruption issues.