Nifty Slips Below 15,000; Banks And PSUs Plunged The Most

Markets on Friday, February 19, observed the worst day of the week as traders continue to book profits and weak global cues played the spoilsport. On the other hand, fresh infections of the virus have affected the markets, lockdown has been implemented in some areas of the country in the wake of rising cases.   

The BSE Sensex closed down by 434 points at 50,889.76 and Nifty-50 dipped 137 points, or 0.91 per cent to 14,981.75. The PSU banking index which added nearly 12 per cent in the previous two sessions ended lower by five per cent today. All sectoral indices closed red as selling was witnessed in all sectors throughout the day. UPL, IndusInd Bank and GAIL ended among the top gainers of Nifty and ONGC, Tata Steel and SBI contributed to top losers.  On the broader front, The BSE Midcap index closed lower by 1.67 per cent, Smallcap index down 0.76 per cent.  

The sentiment turned negative in the last four sessions as indices closed lower for four consecutive sessions and also erased all the previous gains in the first two trading sessions of the week. Bad performance in the Banking and Financial sectors dragged the market the most in the previous sessions as shares of HDFC Bank, SBI and Bajaj Finance witnessed heavy selling. The Nifty-50 and BSE Sensex declined 1.2 per cent and 1.27 per cent respectively in the entire week.   

Rusmik Oza, Executive Vice President, Head of Fundamental Research at Kotak Securities , on the market’s weekly performance said, “The Nifty-50 & BSE Sensex declined by 1.2% this week as market mood became cautious on rising global and local bond yields. The broader markets that is NSE Mid Cap 100 Index and BSE Small Cap Index are both in the green this week. The US 10 Year Bond yields have risen from below 1% to 1.29% building in economic impact of the US$ 1.9 trillion stimulus package.“  

The market will continue to consolidate further as the Key index has entered below thr 15,000 level which was marked as the strong support by analysts. Traders might see some positive action if the key index will approach above 15,000 level, else the traders will witness more volatality.  

Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities, said, "As index managed to breached to its strong support of 15k mark which will acts as an immediate resistance now, so above 15k mark we may see some relief otherwise we may see more downside levels of 14,900-14,750 on the other hand 15,100-15,170 will act as a strong hurdle on the higher side."