Weak global cues, rise in coronavirus cases across the world, stress on banking stocks and fears of a global recession weighed heavy on markets on March 30.
Let’s look at the final tally on D-Street: the S&P BSE Sensex fell 1,375 points to close at 28,440 while the Nifty50 closed 379 points lower at 8,281. The Nifty is back below 8,300 after two sessions, which suggests that bears have regained their foothold.
Investors’ lost nearly Rs 3 lakh crore in a single trading session. The average market capitalisaion of BSE-listed companies fell from Rs 112.49 lakh crore on March 27 to Rs 109.74 lakh crore on March 30.
It looks like the market is factoring the worst. The fears of an economic recession is leading to a sharp selloff by institutional investors across the globe. FIIs have, so far, pulled out near Rs 60,000 crore from the cash segment of the Indian equity market in March.
“As expected, the markets have set aside the stimulus measures announced by the RBI and the government, and focused on the rising virus infections and its impact on the Indian economy,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services told Moneycontrol.
“With a global recession already declared by the IMF, the recessionary forces and the general uncertainty are forcing investors, especially the FIIs, to redeem their investments. CPI for Industrial workers is due tomorrow, although it is unlikely to have an effect in the current market scenario,” he said.
Sectorally, the action was seen in healthcare and FMCG stocks, while selling pressure was visible in realty, finance, Bankex, auto, and telecom stocks.
The broader market outperformed as the S&P BSE Midcap index fell 2.1 percent while the S&P BSE Smallcap index was down just 1.75 percent.
Top Nifty gainers include Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Nestle India, Tech Mahindra, and Cipla.
Top Nifty losers include HDFC, and Bajaj Finance that fell more than 10 percent each.
Stocks & sectors
Sectorally, the action was seen in the healthcare index that was up 1.07 percent, and the S&P BSE FMCG index was up 0.67 percent.
Selling pressure was visible in the S&P BSE Realty index that fell 7 percent, followed by the S&P BSE Finance index which was down 6.9 percent, and the Bankex fell 5.8 percent.
Volume spike was seen in stocks like Godrej Properties, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Torrent Pharma, TCS, and Jubilant FoodWorks.
Long buildup was seen in stocks like Axis Bank, Jubilant FoodWorks, and Lupin.
Short buildup was seen in stocks like Godrej Properties, Biocon, Cummins India, and Voltas.
More than 400 stocks on the BSE hit a fresh 52-week low. These include Eicher Motors, Teamlease Services, Lakshmi Mills, Shriram City Union and Havells India.
Banking stocks witnessed massive selloff led by ICICI Bank & HDFC Bank, which contributed 75% to the Nifty Bank’s fall. Brokerages say that the disruption of the domestic and global economies due to coronavirus will have a meaningful impact on banks’ loan-book growth.
Stocks in news
Shares of SpiceJet were down 5 percent as domestic and international flights remain suspended. The stock touched the lower circuit of Rs 35.15 per share.
Lupin share price jumped 2 percent after the pharma company received an establishment inspection report from the US drug regulator.
The share price of motorcycle and scooter manufacturing company Hero MotoCorp fell 6 percent after the company decided to halt operations till March 31, at all its plants globally in face of the coronavirus outbreak.
Technical outlook
The Nifty formed a bearish candle on the daily charts.
For the time, it will be safe to presume that the index is retracing the last leg of the rally from the lows of 7,511–9,038.
In case 7,800 is breached on a closing basis, then one should be prepared for breach of the recent bottom of 7,511.
As long as the Nifty sustains above 7,800 one can remain hopeful of buying to emerge at lower levels, which should eventually resume the pullback on the upside.
A close above 8,660 shall be considered as an initial sign of strength and on such a close upswing shall again resume, say experts.
Traders are advised to wait for further clues to emerge over the next two- three trading sessions before initiating trading bets in any of the directions, they say.
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