Domestic equity market opened on a negative note on the last trading day of the week amid renewing geo-political tensions and weak cues from global markets. Asian market was trading lower, while the major Wall Street indices too ended in the red on Thursday. At 9 am, SGX Nifty too slipped into the negative territory with the futures index at the Singaporean Exchange trading lower by 10 points to 17,264.  

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Barometer Sensex and benchmark Nifty started nearly 0.30% lower at 57,488.39 and 17,230.15 respectively on Friday.  

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All broader market indices slipped in the red, while metal and auto were the only sectors those were trading positive in th early trade.  

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said the roller coaster ride in the market will continue till some clarity emerges on the Ukraine issue. The de-escalation in tensions which the market immediately discounted with a sharp up move has now been replaced with re-escalation of tensions on the Ukraine- Russia border and the consequent sharp market down move, he said.  

"Since it is difficult to predict the outcome of this crisis, investors may follow a wait and watch strategy for the short run. The more enduring headwind for the market this year would be monetary tightening by the Fed.Back home, in India inflation is under control and credit growth is expected to pick up to double digits. This augurs well for financials" 

Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Shree Cement, Nestle India HCL Tech, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Bajaj Finance and TCS were the biggest drags on Friday. Those gained the opening trade were Maruti, HDFC Ltd, UPL, Ultratech Cement, Coal Indian, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel,  L&T and Power Grid.   

In the pre-open, the Sensex tumbled over 400 points to below 57,500 as all stocks turned negative on the 30-share index.  

Meanwhile, Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said 17340 remains crucial level for Nifty. "With 17340 remaining a sticky region, all attempts to push further higher yesterday, found buyers withdrawing, prompting Nifty to search for deeper supports to regroup. The consequent drop in the closing hour will lend a negative bias early today. Oscillators look less inclined to support a relief rally in the first half. We may have to wait for a test of 17070 or a direct pullback above 17340 before playing for upsides," he said 

Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd says equity markets have seen rise in volatility in the last couple of days due to varying news flows coming in from Ukraine border.  

"Nifty has been trading in a broader range of 16,800-17,400 and needs a decisive breakout on either side for clear direction. For now, investors will have to navigate their way through the Ukraine crisis and rate hike environment to stay on course," he sadds. 

On Friday morning, Japanese Nikkei 225 was down over 0.60%, Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange dropped 0.20% and Shanghai Composite was trading flat with negative bias in the early trade. 

Earlier, on the Wall Street, the Dow Jones corrected 1.8% in worst session of the year, the S&;P 500 fell 2.1% and the Nasdaq dropped 2.9% on Thursday.