Closing Bell: Sensex drops nearly 300 points, Nifty cracks below 17,100 dragged by financial shares

Closing Bell: Snapping a two-day winning streak, the Indian equity markets closed in the red on Thursday amid poor global cues after the US Federal Reserve announced another rate hike by 25 basis points this year.

On Wednesday, the US Fed raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point but indicated it was on the verge of pausing further increases in borrowing costs after the recent collapse of two US banks.

Amid high volatility, both the benchmark indices were down nearly 0.5 per cent as Sensex dipped nearly 300 points and Nifty50 sustained the key psychological level of 17,000 mark.

The volatility was also marked due to the weekly expiry of the derivatives (F&O) segment.

At the market close, the BSE Sensex settled at 57,925.28, down 289.31 points or 0.5 per cent, while NSE Nifty50 slipped by 75 points or 0.44 per cent to 17,076.90 today. While the broader markets too followed the frontline indices suit as Nifty Mid and Smallcap dipped around 0.4 per cent each.

Nifty Bank – the 12-share banking index – dragged the Nifty index most as it cracked almost 1 per cent or 382.15 points to close at 39,616.90 on Thursday.

As many as 19 stocks advanced and 30 declined, while TCS remained unchanged at the market closed today. SBI cracked most by around 2 per cent, followed by Bajaj Auto, Kotak Bank, HCL Tech, and Asian Paints each down around 1.5 per cent.

On the contrary, Hindalco gained the most by around 1.5 per cent in an otherwise weak market, followed by Maruti Suzuki, Nestle India, ONGC, and Tata Motors each up 0.5-1 per cent during today’s session.

Sectorally, Nifty FMCG was the showstopper along with Pharma, Metal, and Auto as they ended in the green, while Nifty Bank, Financial Services, IT, and Realty dragged the market most today.

India VIX – a volatility index – settled at 14.49, down by 2.14 per cent on the NSE today. This basically helps investors and traders to make the decisions of when to buy and sell shares.

Volume profile indicates Nifty index has strong support around the 16850-16750 zone, whereas Bank Nifty has support at 38900-39100 while resistance is placed at the 40000-40200 range, according to Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking. 

With respect to the OI Data, the highest OI was observed at 17200 followed by 17500 strike prices on the call side; while the highest OI is at 17000 strike price on the put side, Mehata added.

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