Taking Stock | Sensex, Nifty snap three-day winning run, investors lose Rs 1.4 lakh crore in a day

Indian equity benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty snapped their three-session winning streak and ended a percent lower on March 12, with banks, financial and auto stocks as top drags.

After opening in the green and trading with healthy gains in the first half, a fresh wave of profit-booking kept the market down for the remaining session.

The Sensex closed 487 points, or 0.95 percent, down at 50,792.08, while the Nifty ended 144 points, or 0.95 percent, lower at 15,030.95. The BSE midcap index fell 0.45 percent but the smallcap index logged a gain of 0.14 percent.

Investors turned to profit-booking in light of mixed cues as optimism over the US signing the $1.9-trillion stimulus package faded as concerns over rising bond yield persisted.

"Indian markets failed to hold on to its strong start as rising bond yield countered positive sentiments. The US market has had a robust close yesterday, taking cues from the fall in the US unemployment rate and the signing of the stimulus bill. However, Asian and European markets couldn’t maintain the optimism due to rising US bond yield ahead of the Fed policy meeting next week," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms dropped to Rs 207.9 lakh crore from Rs 209.3 lakh crore, making investors poorer by Rs 1.4 lakh crore in a day.

For the week, the Sensex and the Nifty inched up almost a percent each.

"Going by the recent moves, there is selling pressure at higher levels, which is capping the gains in the Nifty50. All eyes will be on the Fed action going forward. The Nifty50 needs to sustain above 15,000 for a couple of more days for an uptrend to continue," said Rusmik Oza, Executive Vice President, Head of Fundamental Research at Kotak Securities.

All sectoral indices ended in the red on March 12, with Nifty auto, bank, financial services, PSU bank, private bank and pharma indices falling over a percent each.

A volume spike of more than 500 percent was observed in the stock of SBI Life, while Siemens witnessed a volume spike of more than 400 percent.

Tata Power saw a volume spike of over 300 percent and ICICI Pru Life, Concor, Cummins India, Bandhan Bank and Apollo Hospitals were among the stocks that witnessed a volume spike of over 200 percent each.

Tata Power, PFC, Tata Chemical were among the stocks to witness long buildup, while ICICI Pru, Max Financial Services and Trent were among those that saw short buildup.

The Nifty managed to close the week above the 15,000-mark but showed uncertainty at higher levels.

"On the downside, the index has strong and good support at 14,850 zone. Any decisive break below said levels can show some more pressure towards 14,500 on an immediate basis. The strong hurdle is still at 15,250 and only above that level we may see some stability," said Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.

As per Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities, the 14,850/50,150 could be decisive support and if it breaks, the Nifty/Sensex could move closer to 14,650/49,500 or 14,500/49,000.

It seems difficult to get out of weakness immediately. However, if Indices hold above 15,200/51,250 levels, we can see an upward activity. It is advisable to reduce weak long positions at resistance levels. Buying is advisable in select companies on dips (14,500/49,000), said Chouhan.

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