Closing Bell: Nifty ends around 17,100, Sensex falls 460 pts with all sectors in the red

Nifty witnessed a gravitational pull, unable to take morning optimism in its stride, as it faltered in today’s late trade after WTI oil spiked to $106 a barrel on reports that Germany has dropped its opposition to EU ban on crude imports from Russia. Traders also fear on implementation of new F&O margin rule levied from Monday (2nd May) followed by US Fed reserve interest rate hike meeting scheduled on 3&4th May-22.

As per markets readings Fed will raise interest rates in the range of 50-75 bps. Technically, the line in the sand is at Nifty’s support at 16807 mark. Below the level, the index could swiftly move to 16597 and then aggressive inter-month targets at 14251-14500 zone.

Markets remained volatile and ended with a cut of nearly a percent, in continuation of the prevailing consolidation phase. The benchmark opened higher amid supportive global cues and inched higher gradually as the day progressed. However, the news of war intensifying between Russia-Ukraine completely changed the tone in the latter half.

As a result, the Nifty index erased all the gains and settled around the day’s low, to close at 17,102 levels. The selling pressure was widespread wherein banking, auto and energy lost maximum. The broader markets too ended in the red and lost in the range of 0.8-1.3%.

We’ve been seeing the index oscillating in a broader range for the last two weeks and there’s no clarity over the next directional move yet. We reiterate our cautious view and suggest waiting for a decisive break from the 16,800-17,300 range. Apart from the global cues, domestic factors like earnings, LIC IPO and auto sales numbers will also be in focus.

The Indian equity benchmarks trimmed all of their gains in late afternoon session and ended in red.

On technical front, Nifty50 may take support at 16,950 levels and may face resistance at 17,400 levels. In case of Bank Nifty immediate support and resistance levels are 35,700 and 36,600 level respectively.

Dips were encouraging investors to accumulate quality stocks with focus on defensives & domestic growth sectors like manufacturing & capital goods.

However, a shrink in the US economy and rate hike expectations in the upcoming Fed meet triggered sell-off in the global market.

Domestic market reduced exposure ahead of the shortened next week and opening of India’s largest IPO.

The Nifty witnessed a volatile action in the week gone by & ultimately formed an Inside bar on the weekly chart. For the last couple of weeks, the index is oscillating near its key weekly moving averages & this has developed as a triangular pattern on the daily chart.

On April 29, the index faced resistance near the junction of the swing high on the daily chart & the 20 DMA i.e. near 17400. Thereon the Nifty nosedived towards the end of the session & formed a bearish outside bar as well as an Engulfing bear candle on the daily chart.

Overall structure suggests that the index can continue to consolidate in the range of 17000-17400 & once the swing low of 16958 is breached then the index can tumble down towards 16600.

Benchmark indices ended on negative note with Nifty around 17100 on April 29 amid selling across the sectors.

At close, the Sensex was down 460.19 points or 0.80% at 57,060.87, and the Nifty was down 142.50 points or 0.83% at 17,102.50. About 1265 shares have advanced, 2035 shares declined, and 117 shares are unchanged.

Axis Bank, Coal India, Adani Ports, Power Grid and Bajaj Auto were among the top Nifty losers, while gainers were HDFC Life, Tata Consumer Products, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma and HDFC Bank.

All the sectoral indices ended in the red with bank, oil & gas, realty, PSU bank, power, and capital goods indices lost 1-2 percent.

The BSE midcap index fell 0.81 percent and smallcap index fell 0.58 percent.

Sterlite Technologies board approved, raising of funds, inter alia, by issue of equity shares, any financial instruments and/or security convertible into‐equity shares, combination of such securities by way of one or more public and/or private offerings, qualified institutions placements and/or preferential allotments and/or rights offering or any combination thereof or any other method in accordance with the provisions of applicable laws, for an aggregate consideration of up to Rs 1000 crore.

Sterlite Technologies was quoting at Rs 193.85, down Rs 16.50, or 7.84 percent on the BSE.

The company's Q4 net profit was up 57.7% at Rs 1,838.9 crore versus Rs 1,166 crore, YoY.

Company’s revenue was up 11.3% at Rs 26,270 crore against Rs 24,024 crore, YoY.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was up 21.9% at Rs 2,427 crore versus Rs 1,991 crore and margin was at 9.1% versus 8.3%, YoY.

Maruti Suzuki India was quoting at Rs 7,911.40, up Rs 23.45, or 0.30 percent.

The research firm Morgan Stanley has kept an overweight call on Axis Bank with a target of Rs 910 per share as profit came above estimate, helped by lower provisions.

The research firm believes the bank will take advantage of lower credit costs for investments, CNBC-TV18 reported.

Axis Bank was quoting at Rs 732.90, down Rs 47.05, or 6.03 percent on the BSE.