The Indian equity markets ended in the red for the fifth consecutive session with the Nifty falling below 17,000 on March 15 amid selling seen in FMCG, realty, oil and gas and financial names.
At close, the Sensex was down 344.29 points or 0.59 percent at 57,555.90, and the Nifty was down 71.10 points or 0.42 percent at 16,972.20.
Positive global markets and cooling US inflation print helped Indian indices start on a positive note and remain firm throughout the first half. However, in the second half, selling in the FMCG and financial names erased all the intraday gains and indices ended near the day's low.
"The in-line data showing a decline in US inflation provided a gap-up opening in context with the global relief rally, bringing confidence that the Fed would not opt for a harsh rate hike following the turmoil in the banking sector. Broader rate hike expectation has reduced from 50bps to 25bps and there are possibilities that the Fed may even consider not to hike in the March policy meeting," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
"Domestic gains were short-lived, as European markets fell on fears that the ECB would raise interest rates by at least 25 bps at its meeting on Thursday. High interest rate is the worry of the stock market," he added.
Stocks and sectors
Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, HUL and Nestle India were among the biggest losers on the Nifty, while gainers included Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Asian Paints, Tata Steel and Titan Company.
Among sectors, the Nifty metal index added nearly 2 percent, and pharma index up 0.3 percent, while the PSU Bank index shed 1.2 percent, the Nifty Bank index 0.9 percent, and auto and FMCG down 0.5 percent each.
The BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended on a flat note.
On the BSE, realty, FMCG, auto and bank were down 0.5 percent each while power, capital goods and metal indices rose 1 percent each.
Cigniti Technologies, Cummins India, Petronet LNG and Sonata Software touched their 52-week high on the BSE.
However, more than 200 stocks touched their 52-week low, including Bandhan Bank, Saregama India, Coffee Day Enterprises, Rolta India, V-Mart Retail, Omaxe, Mcleod Russel India, Jindal Poly Films, Suven Life Sciences, and HDIL.
Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 100 percent was seen in Indian Energy Exchange, GMR Airports Infrastructure and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company.
A short build-up was seen in Samvardhana Motherson International, Vodafone Idea and RBL Bank, while a long build-up was seen in Adani Enterprises, GMR Airports Infrastructure and Indian Energy Exchange.
Outlook for March 16
Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas
The Nifty witnessed a gap-up opening. However, it could not sustain at higher levels and ended the session down about 70 points for the day. The key hourly moving averages placed at 17,200 acted as a stiff resistance. Despite the strong opening, the Nifty was not even able to surpass the previous trading session high, and as the day progressed, selling pressure intensified resulting in the fifth consecutive negative close for the day.
It has achieved our short-term target of 16,950 and hence we revise it downwards to 16,750 which is the previous swing low. On the hourly charts, we can observe a positive divergence developing. However, it needs to be confirmed by a daily positive close and hence we shall assign more weightage to the price action now and continue to maintain our negative outlook on the index.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities
The Nifty fell for the fifth consecutive session on March 15 as worries over banking contagion in the developed world continued to hurt sentiments. At close, the Nifty was down 0.42 percent or 71.2 points at 16,972.2. Volumes on NSE were below the recent average. Broad market indices did better than the Nifty even as the advance decline ratio remained at 0.78:1.
India's trade deficit came in at USD 17.4 billion in February 2023, which is narrower as compared to USD 18.75 billion in the year-ago period and USD 17.76 billion in January 2023.
The Nifty failed to build on the opening gains on March 15 and ended in the negative. 16,747-17,166 could be the trading range for Nifty in the near term. The day when the Nifty has a gap-up opening and closes near the day’s high could signify a short-term reversal.
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