Stock Market Updates: Sensex, Nifty Reverse Opening Losses, Trade Higher; Adani Green Tanks 8% – News18

Sensex Today: Equity benchmark indices opened with losses on Monday tracking mixed cues in global markets. The BSE Sensex fell 150 points to 72,483 and the NSE Nifty50 slipped 57 points to 21,966.

Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, M&M, NTPC, and Bajaj Finance among others led the gains on the Sensex. At the same time, SBI, Maruti, HUL, and ICICI Bank were among the top losers.

HDFC Life, Apollo Hospital, Wipro, Coal India were among the top gainers on Nifty 50 while Adani Ports, Grasim, SBI Insurance, and Hero Motocorp led losses falling between 0.5 to 2.5 per cent.

Share of the Adani group were in free fall Monday morning as prosecuters in the US are probing the company and its founder for bribery charges, bloomberg reported on Friday. The shares of the company such Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Adani Power fell between 1-3 per cent.

“With the Federal Reserve’s decision looming on Wednesday, March 20, market volatility is expected to intensify. Investor attention is also shifting towards the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, slated to commence on April 19 and conclude on June 4. Meanwhile, apprehensions loom over the SEBI-mandated Mutual Funds stress test results, indicating potential market stress. Intraday support for Nifty is at 21861, with major support at 21530, while immediate resistance stands at 22250. A cautious and nimble approach is advised amidst prevailing uncertainties,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.

3 events that will shape the markets in near-term

The week ahead is likely to be highly volatile. Many events like the US Fed meeting outcome on Wednesday, the spike in the US 10-year bond yield to 4.3%, and the possible Sebi directives based on the stress tests in mid and small cap schemes will influence the market in the near-term.

US Fed

If the Fed message has any slightly hawkish tone in response to the recent stubborn inflation trend, that would be negative for the mother market and consequently for other markets too.

The spike in US 10-year bond yield to 4.3% is negative for foreign portfolio flows.

Mid, small-caps

The concern regarding the elevated valuations in the mid and smallcaps continues despite the stability witnessed in these segments last Friday.

Strategy

Investors may adopt a wait and watch strategy and may buy largecaps in capital goods, banking, telecom and automobiles on dips.

Views by: V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services

Global Cues

Asian shares firmed on Monday as Chinese data surprised on the upside for once, while investors looked to navigate a minefield of central bank meetings this week that could see the end of free money in Japan and a slower glide path for US rate cuts.

Tokyo shares opened higher Monday as investors cheered the yen’s slide while the Bank of Japan prepared to start a two-day policy meeting. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.83 percent or 319.87 points to 39,027.51 in early trade, while the broader Topix index climbed 0.93 percent, or 24.93 points, to 2,695.73.

US stocks fell on Friday, led by technology-related megacaps that have propelled this year’s rally, while investors weighed the interest rate outlook ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.