Mid-day Mood | Sensex, Nifty 50 extend losses; US, India CPI data awaited

Indices extend losses

The Sensex and the Nifty 50 extended losses on March 11 noon weighed by financial services, IT, and automobile stocks.

At 11:48 am, Sensex slipped 0.4 percent to 73833 level, whereas Nifty 50 declined 0.3 percent to 22423 level on March 11. The sharp fall was led by weakness in HDFC Bank and Tata Group stocks. About 1,022 shares advanced, 2,332 shares declined, and 102 shares remained unchanged.

Moreover, investors also turned cautious ahead of domestic and US inflation reports due on March 12. The inflation data will help market participants identify the timing of interest rate cuts.

Local markets fall followed weakness in Asian markets this morning, led by Japanese shares after reports suggested that the nation’s central bank is likely to raise interest rates.

Meanwhile, the broader markets showed mixed trend as the BSE Smallcap index was down 1.4 percent, the BSE Midcap index was up 0.3 percent.

Nifty Media, Nifty Private Bank, and Nifty Metal were the worst hit amongst sectoral indices. Nifty Healthcare and Nifty Pharma, on the other hand, rose by over 1% each.

FPIs are turning steady buyers in India as evidenced by the net buying of equity worth Rs 11,823 crores this month up to March 8, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services. Declining treasury yields of the US and the Indian economy growing at better-than-expected rates are keeping the market resilient, said Vijayakumar.

Vijayakumar also said that valuations in the mid- and small-cap segments are excessive and unjustifiable. "Correction in this segment is only a matter of time," he said.

For now, 22250-22200 is likely to be seen as intermediate support, followed by the strong support of 22150 and finally, the psychological mark of 22000 from a broader term view, said Sameet Chavan, head of technical and derivative research, Angel One. "On the higher end, finding resilience is challenging in uncharted territory, though 22600-22650 could be seen as the following potent targets for Nifty in this week."

Chavan said that looking at the bullish biases, the domestic market looks prominent to continue its upward trajectory until any aberrations occur on any front. "We would advocate traders to refrain from complacency and maintain a pragmatic approach with a stock-centric view," he added.

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