Indian benchmark indices opened lower on Monday morning after tracking its global peers. At 09:16 IST, the Sensex was down 228.26 points or 0.39 per cent at 57604.71, and the Nifty was down 77.50 points or 0.45 per cent at 17198.80. About 727 shares have advanced, 1476 shares declined, and 131 shares are unchanged.
Among the Sensex-30 shares, Wipro, Nestle, HDFC, L&T, Ultratech Cement, HUL and Tech were the top losers. Dr Reddy’s, NTPC, PowerGrid and NTPC, meanwhile, were the top losers. In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were in the negative territory, down 0.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively.
Dr VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “There are strong headwinds for the market arising from Ukraine tensions and monetary tightening by the Fed expected from March onwards. Adding to these headwinds there are concerns specific to India like sustained FII selling and rising crude. Brent crude at around $94 a barrel can aggravate inflation in India and depreciating rupee may further prompt FIIs to sell. Retail investor optimization and cash rich DIIs are positives.”
“Trends of improving earnings growth and fair valuations in segments like financials are supporting the market. Investors may wait till clarity emerges on the Ukraine front. March is likely to be an event filled month with state election results, Fed meet and LIC IPO,” Vijayakumar further said.
Mohit Nigam, Head – PMS, Hem Securities, said: “Some geopolitical tensions faced by the world is pulling down the equity markets, world over. And investors shifting some of the portfolio to the safer heavens of bonds and gold. But amid constructive talks between the French president Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin to strike a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine might act as a hope to cease the tensions and at the same time ease the crude prices which touched the highs of nearly $95.”
Equity indices surrendered mid-session gains to close lower for the third day in a row on Friday as participants remained cautious amid geopolitical uncertainties in eastern Europe. After swinging about 700 points between gains and losses, the BSE Sensex finally closed at 59.04 points or 0.10 per cent lower at 57,832.97. On similar lines, the NSE Nifty edged lower by 28.30 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 17,276.30.
With the monthly expiry week starting today, the markets seem to be a bit volatile and investors are advised to trade cautiously, Nigam said.
Like all dips, this might also be a good opportunity to invest for the long-term gains. On the technical front the Nifty50 seems to take support at 17,100 while resistance at 17,400. For Bank Nifty support stands at 37,200 and resistance at 38,000, Nigam stated.
Global Cues
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.68 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.72 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.23 per cent. All but one of the 11 S&P 500 sectors fell, with the exception being consumer staples, which do well in economic downturns. Stocks fell as hopes that diplomacy might resolve the Ukraine crisis faded on news Russian-backed separatists were evacuating residents from breakaway regions.
Asian share markets and Wall Street futures pared sharp early losses on Monday as the US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed in principle to hold a summit on the Ukraine crisis. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan pared their losses to be down 0.4 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei halved its drop to be down 0.9 per cent.
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