Sensex tanks nearly 800 pts, Nifty slips below 22,000: What spooked investors today?

Indian equities in trade on Wednesday, February 28, resumed their downward journey after a day’s breather. Nifty towards the close of the session was down 0.95 per cent, or 210.9 points, at 21,1951.95. The decline in broader markets was more brutal as investors booked profit in recent outperformers.

“The movement of the stock market is complex and vulnerable to several influences. Corrections in the market are common. Investors with long-term horizons may see this as a buying opportunity. Ninety stocks are trading down as the Nifty Midcap index drops more than 1,000 points. There can be brief selling pressure as a result of investors taking profits following large gains,” Pravesh Gour, Senior Technical Analyst at Swastika Investmart, said on the market meltdown today.

Here are the factors that likely weighed on indices today.

Jitters ahead of US PCE price print:

The personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE) print for January month, a key inflation gauge, due to be released today will provide cues to the likely Fed take on interest rate trajectory going ahead. As the inflationary trend is not cooling off in the US, many Fed officials have signalled that there is no rush to cut rates. Any further deferment in rate cuts by the US will be negative for Indian equities.

Furthermore, a host of other data, such as manufacturing print in the US, is making the market nervous.

Heavyweights drag:

Heavyweight counters including the likes of Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid, Bajaj Auto, and Eicher Motors all were dragged with losses of up to 5 per cent.

“The present range-bound consolidation phase is likely to continue for some time in the absence of strong positive or negative triggers,” noted VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Domestic GDP:

Domestic GDP for the October-December quarter of the ongoing fiscal year is due to be released on Thursday (February 29), and as most brokerages and agencies anticipate the GDP to range between 6 and 6.6%, the market seems to be cautious.

US government to see partial shutdown on March 1:

“Another reason may be that the US government will partially shut down on March 1 without a spending bill," said Pravesh Gour, Senior Technical Analyst at Swastika Investmart. If Congress does not pass a spending bill by March, a sizeable chunk of the US government will need to suspend operations.