Earlier in the day, benchmark indices had fallen close to 2 per cent despite some resilience in other Asian markets on concerns over rising COVID-19 cases, slower rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and rotation of foreign fund flows out of emerging market economies.
The impact of the rising US Treasury bond yields and the strength in the US dollar has also weighed on inflows to emerging markets like India, which had benefitted in 2020 from the decline in US bond yields and the dollar index.
For the day, the Nifty50 index ended 0.7 per cent, or 101.5 points, lower at 14,929.50, while Sensex closed at 50,395.08, down 0.8 per cent or 397 points.
Here are the major movers in the market:
Banks have a roller-coaster ride
While Nifty Bank ended the day in red, it managed to pare losses substantially towards the end helped by likely rebalancing of portfolios tracking the index. The index ended 0.9 per cent lower after having fallen close to 3 per cent during the session.
MTAR’s stellar debut
Shares of the newly-listed company made returns of 88 per cent on the first day of trading when measured from the issue price of Rs 575. The company’s IPO had enjoyed a strong response from investors, which translated into a staggering debut performance.
Metals shrug at weakness
While the broader market succumbed to selling pressure, shares of metal companies displayed resilience. The Nifty Metal index ended 1 per cent higher helped by large gains in Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Steel Authority of India.
Tata checks in at Pritish Nandy Comm
Shares of Pritish Nandy Communications jumped 10 per cent after the company announced that industrialist Ratan Tata has picked up some shares in the media company.
Meghmani Organics soars on demerger buzz
Shares of the chemical company soared 20 per cent amid market buzz that the company’s board may soon consider demerger of some of the lucrative growth divisions within it.
What gave sell signal?
As many as 63 stocks listed on the NSE gave a sell signal today based on MACD indicators including prominent names like Coal India, HDFC Life Insurance, India Cements, and ACC.
What’s ahead for the market?
Even as the Nifty50 manage to crawl back much of its losses towards the end, traders still persisted with their short positions in the index’s March futures contract.
In the options segment, traders covered their short positions in Nifty’s 14,900 strike price put option suggesting that they still see a possibility for the index to test that level in the coming sessions.
