Sensex, Nifty Close Flat With Negative Bias After Clearing Early Losses
Indian equities closed flat with negative bias in the first session of week with losses marked in Banks and Financial stocks. Sensex cleared its 500-point loss in the late afternoon session and managed to close at 49,771.29, down 87 points, while the NSE index closed lower by 7.60 points at 14,736.40.
IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors were top index losers as they fell over 4.32 per cent, 2.25 per cent and 1.91 per cent respectively at market closing. The overall banking sector closed lower by 558 points at 33,603.45.
What led the markets to fall?
Analysts said that factors like escalated U.S. bond yields, rising Covid infections which are impacting the growth projections of FY22, Asian markets trading lower in-line with weakening in Turkish Lira and sustained selling in heavyweight stocks altogether spoiled the sentiment of the market.
“Fear of the second wave of Covid-19, elevated bond yield and weak global cues are weighing on the domestic market. The expectation of rise in inflation is also impacting the market. The market has marched well in anticipation of faster economic recovery and is taking a breather given tightening restrictions & an increase in future interest rate, spiking fear of a slower recovery”, said Vinod Nair of Geojit Financial Services.
Back home, on the flipside, IT, FMCG and Pharma stocks steadied the index and played the defensives amid volatility in the market. Britannia, TCS and Tech Mahindra stood as the top gainers of market as they advanced over two per cent each.
The Pharma sector saw buying support throughout the day; Sun Pharma, Dr Reddys Labs and Cipla were top movers in the space. Developments in the sector and ramped vaccination process will be key supports for the sector in the near future, said experts commenting on sudden rally in the sector.
Beating the volatility, the broader markets performed well on Monday as both BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices surged higher by nearly one per cent each. In the Midcaps, Adani Enterprises and Godrej Property led the gains, while Hester Bio and Ajmera realty saw buying in the Smallcap index.
In the IPO market, Barbeque-Nation announced its bidding process, which is set to begin on Wednesday, March 24 and will close on Friday, March 26. The company has fixed a price band of Rs 498-500/ per equity share with a minimum quantity of 30 shares.
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