Closing Bell: Nifty ends below 14,600, Sensex falls 585 pts amid spike in US bond yields

Taking Stock: Rising US Bond Yields, IT Stocks Send Market Tumbling For Fifth Day

Among sectors, IT index shed 3 percent, pharma fell over 2 percent and PSU Bank index declined 2 percent.... Read More

Nifty and Sensex were down 1.25% today despite positive statements by US Fed on the interest rate outlook and continuance of accommodative policy. Indian market has been in a corrective phase for the past 10 days, due factors like high bond yields in US, slew of QIPs and IPOs taking away liquidity from the system and increased number of covid cases being reported across the country. Market may remain dull over in the near term but once the Q4 earning previews start flowing in there would be renewed interest by market participants.

Markets swung both ways and finally ended with a cut of more than a percent. The benchmark witnessed gap up opening on the back of positive global cues as the US Fed kept the interest rate unchanged and maintained the dovish stance, which boosted the investors’ sentiment. However, the gains fizzled in the latter half, citing profit-taking in the global markets and continuous rise in the COVID cases. Consequently, the Nifty ended at 14,558 levels, down by 1.1%. The broader markets too ended with losses in the range of 1.1-1.5%. On the sector front, barring FMCG and telecom, all the other indices ended with losses wherein IT, healthcare and realty were the top losers.

With all the major events behind us, global cues and COVID updates will dictate the trend. Nifty tested the critical support at 14,500 today and its breakdown will pave the way for further decline. Traders should maintain extra caution and limit leveraged positions.

The Indian equity market indices opened on a positive note on Thursday morning but shed those gains during the afternoon trading hours. The positive gains came on the backdrop of Mr Jerome Powell’s announcement on significantly positive outlook for US Economy’s outlook, success of the massive vaccination drive in USA and pledge to keep the benchmark overnight interest rate near zero.

The Indian equity market could not sustain its early gains and slumped during the day. There is expected to be a high level of volatility in the Indian stock market amidst the resurgence of Covid. The rise in the US Bond yields has remained a big area of concern and the investors are cautious given the past experience of “Taper tantrum”. But, the structural trend of strong economic recovery and growth remains intact, which is the most crucial parameter for a long-term investor.

Indian rupee ended flat at 72.52 per dollar, amid selling saw in the domestic equity market on spiking US bond yields.It opened higher at 72.48 per dollar against previous close of 72.54 and traded in the range of 72.42-72.61.

Indian equities pared its early optimism and fell into a sharp correction as US bond yield rose to its highest level since January. Dovish comments from the Fed chief on the strong economic bounce back and continuation of its accommodative stance, could not weigh down the rally in the US bond market. Indian markets had witnessed higher volatility compared to its global peers as domestic investors turned extra cautious on increasing Covid cases in India & a fall in FII inflows.

With US 10-year yield hitting their highest level in over a year, bears held the upper hand on Thursday even as the FED kept rates unchanged. Selling in financials kept markets in the red with broader markets seeing profit booking in IT & Pharma stocks ahead of the FTSE rebalancing tomorrow.

Benchmark indices ended lower in the fifth straight session on March 18 amid spiking US bond yields.

At close, the Sensex was down 585.10 points or 1.17% at 49,216.52, while Nifty was down 163.40 points or 1.11% at 14,557.90. About 819 shares have advanced, 2114 shares declined, and 131 shares are unchanged.

HCL Technologies, Infosys, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Divis Labs and Hero MotoCorp were among the major losers, while gainers included ITC, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, Grasim and M&M.

Among sectors, IT index shed 3 percent, while pharma index fell over 2 percent. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices shed over 1 percent each.

Today the market failed to show resilience to stay above the level of 14,750. As of now, the short-term technical condition of the market shows that the expected range of the market is likely to be between 14,410 and 14,900. While it is subject to further price action evolution, it is prudent to wait for volatility to subdue and technical factors to improve before attempting to build short to medium term investments. As such we retain our cautious stance, until further improvement and breakout seen above 14,900.

Indian market opened with a considerable gap up at 14855.50 after the Yesterday’s close in the global market. Despite the growth in Inflation, the Fed expects the growth to be the highest in the nearly 40 years. Policy makers have confirmed that there will be no hike in the rates and that has come as a positive news for the markets globally.

Market couldn't sustain the higher levels due to the looming threats around the uncertainty about the lockdown. Asian markets have also been turned negative after the initial positivity in the market. Global sentiments continue to be positive and we can expect a reversal in the next week. As of now the short term technical condition to be in the range of 14,410-14,900. All major indices are trading in red where Hindalco and Bajaj Auto are the top gainers while Infosys and HCL Tech being the top losers on Nifty.

The share allotment for specialty chemicals company Laxmi Organic Industries and its listing is planned in the coming week. The initial public offering got a strong response, with investors sending in bids 106.81 times the reserved shares during March 15-17. Click to read more

The initial public offering (IPO) of Nazara Technologies was subscribed 8.58 times on March 18, the second day of bidding. The IPO closes for subscription on March 19.

The issue has received bids for 2.50 crore equity shares against an offer size of 29.20 lakh equity shares, the subscription data on exchanges showed.

Non-institutional investors have put in bids 6.59 times more than their reserved portion, while the portion set aside for retail investors has seen a massive 35.38 times subscription and that of employees is subscribed 3.29 times.

Airtel Africa today announced the signing of an agreement under which The Rise Fund, the global impact investing platform of leading alternative investment firm TPG, will invest USD 200 million in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Airtel Africa plc.

At 15:11 hrs Bharti Airtel was quoting at Rs 525.30, up Rs 2.45, or 0.47 percent on the BSE.