Sensex Slips Over 1000 Points From Day's High To Snap Its Three-day Winning Streak

The stocks on BSE saw all its gains in the morning and afternoon trade slip away on the last day of the second week of March. BSE closed 487 points below the 51,000 mark at the close of trading hours on March 12. The stocks of companies belonging to banking, financial and automotive sectors saw selling and were responsible for dragging the Sensex down. The rising Covid cases in Maharashtra also affected the markets as fears of restrictions in the state triggered selling, said a market expert. Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, and Reliance were the top laggards for Sensex as the stocks plunged over two per cent each on heavy selling.  

Earlier in the day, the markets witnessed gap-up opening led by boost in the foreign markets.

The BSE Sensex closed down by 487 points, or 0.95 per cent at 50,792.08, and Nifty-50 slipped 144 points at 15,031. In the 30-share BSE pack, 25 shares closed with losses and only five gained marginally, while 41 shares declined in the 50-share NSE pack. Overall, around 1626 shares ended with losses and nearly 1335 shares advanced at market closing.

Hindalco, HDFC Life, SBI Life and Bajaj Auto made to the top losers of the index on Friday. Hindalco, HDFC Life and SBI Life shed over two per cent each, while Bajaj Auto plunged over three per cent in the intraday session.

The BSE Midcap slipped in the red, whereas the Smallcap index closed higher with marginal gains. Midcap closed lower by 92 points and Smallcap ended slightly up by 0.14 per cent. Adani Power, TVS Motor and Max Financial were top drags in the Midcap index, a market expert said.   

Sectorally, almost all major sectors closed with losses and turned the overall market sentiment negative in the afternoon session. 

The Banks dragged the markets majorly today as traders booked profits after a long week of buying in the sector. The PSU Bank index shed over one per cent in the session, dragged by Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, and Indian Bank.  

Moving further, the investors will closely monitor global cues and a major attraction will be towards the FED policy meeting in the next week, said analysts.  

“All eyes will be on the Fed action going forward. Nifty-50 needs to sustain above 15,000 for couple of more days for the uptrend to continue”, said Rusmik Oza – Executive Vice President at Kotak Securities.

Weekly Outlook: The weekly data showed positive figures as Sensex gained 0.77 per cent or 387 points in the current week. The BSE Smallcap gained 1.30 per cent, while Midcap traded flat with negative bias of 10 points. In the NSE, Nifty-50 gained 0.62 per cent or 92 points, and Nifty Bank added 0.76 per cent or 268 points.