Closing Bell: Nifty ends below 16,300, Sensex drops 768 pts; auto, metal, realty worst hit

Investors are selling in droves and are simply following the trend in the world equity markets. The raging war between Russia & Ukraine has already made investors jittery about the near-term prospects. With commodity prices on the rise, corporates heavily dependent on commodities would have to battle rising prices and a falling currency, which would impact their operating parameters going ahead.

Technically, post sharp pull-back rally the Nifty took the resistance near 16800 and corrected sharply. It made a couple of attempts to clear the resistance of 16800 but due to constant profit booking at higher levels, it failed.

For the traders, 16350 -16400 would be the immediate resistance level. Above the same, Nifty could move up to 16550 and any further upside could lift the index up to 16700.

On the other side, as long as the index is trading below 16350, the selling pressure is likely to continue. Below which, the correction wave will continue till 16000-15900.

Technically, Nifty has formed a bearish candle on a weekly time frame which suggests weakness in the counter. Furthermore, index has been trading with lower highs-lower low formation from the last 5 weeks which suggest a southward journey in the upcoming day.

Moreover, the index has been sustaining below 200-DMA which adds weakness in the prices. A momentum indicator Stochastic & MACD suggested negative crossover on the daily chart, which pointed-out further bearishness in the index.

The index can test the physiological level of 16000 breaching below it can show 15800-15700 levels, while upside resistance comes at 16800 levels. On the other hand, Bank Nifty has support at 34000 levels while resistance at 35000 levels.

The Nifty had recently stumbled near the level of 16800 & started sliding down. The selling pressure continued on March 04. Consequently, the index breached the swing low of 16203 as well as lower end of a downward sloping channel. The Nifty, however, received support in the lower territory; thus staging an intraday recovery but the intraday bounce fizzled out near the key hourly moving averages.

Nevertheless, the index managed to hold on to the level of 16200 on a closing basis. The overall structure shows that the Nifty is trading near multiple support parameters & it can witness recovery as long as it stays above 16200-16100 on a closing basis.

Nifty slipped lower after a few days of consolidation on the daily timeframe; which will heighten the possibility of falling below the 16000 mark over the short term. Immediate support is seen at 16100-16000 bands. On the higher end resistance seen at 16500.

Global bourses are witnessing a sharp sell-off as reports of Russian attack on Europe’s biggest nuclear plant in Ukraine kept tension levels elevated.

Rising oil prices along with uncertainties on supply change disruption have instilled fears that inflation could cross RBI’s tolerance level, though temporarily. The domestic market, however, trimmed its losses as buying was witnessed in IT and Pharma stocks.

Benchmark indices ended lower with Nifty below 16,300 in the volatile session on March 4.

At close, the Sensex is down 768.87 points or 1.40% at 54,333.81, and the Nifty was down 252.60 points or 1.53% at 16,245.40. About 1204 shares have advanced, 2075 shares declined, and 96 shares are unchanged.

Titan Company, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints, Hero MotoCorp and Tata Motors were among the top Nifty losers. On the other hand, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, ITC, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma and UltraTech Cement were the biggest gainers.

Among sectors, except IT all other indices ended in the red with auto, metals, power, capital goods, realty down over 2-3 percent. BSE midcap index shed 2.3 percent and smallcap index fell 1.6 percent.

Domestic steel makers have hiked the prices of hot-rolled coil (HRC) and TMT bars by up to Rs 5,000 per tonne as supply chain is being impacted amid ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

According to industry sources, the prices have been increased in the past few days and are expected to go up further in the coming weeks with the crisis deepening between the two countries.

After the price revision, a tonne of HRC will cost around Rs 66,000, while the buyers will get TMT bars for about Rs 65,000 per tonne, the sources said on Friday. Read More

KEC International has secured new orders of Rs 1,131 crore across its various businesses. The Transmission & Distribution business has secured orders for T&D projects in Middle East and Americas. The orders in Middle East include maiden orders secured directly by our EPC subsidiary in UAE.

Railways business has secured order for 2 x 25 kV Overhead Electrification (OHE) and associated works for speed upgradation in India.

The civil business has secured orders in the cement, residential and public spaces segments in India and has added some prestigious clients to its portfolio.

The cables business has secured orders for various types of cables in India and overseas.

KEC International was quoting at Rs 455.55, down Rs 11.00, or 2.36 percent on the BSE.

A meeting of the board of directors of Gail India is scheduled to be held on Friday, March 11, 2022 to consider the recommendation for payment of 2nd interim dividend for FY 2021-22, company said in its press release.

The trading window shall remain closed for the period from 6th March, 2022 to 13th March, 2022 for designated persons and their immediate relatives for dealing in the securities of the company, it added.

GAIL India was quoting at Rs 156.75, down Rs 2.30, or 1.45 percent on the BSE.