A sharp sell-off in the domestic equity market significantly eroded investors’ wealth on Tuesday after a mild recovery in the previous session.
Sensex closed down 1.01% at 72,012.05, and the Nifty was down 1.08% at 21,817.50.
All the sectoral indices ended in the red with Healthcare, IT, FMCG, Capital Goods, Oil & Gas, Power segments down 1-2%.
The BSE Midcap index lost 1.36% while the Smallcap index ended 1.04% lower.
The Nifty Midcap 100 index, after touching highs of 49,780.65, has now slipped more than 8% to below the 46,000 level. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index has cracked more than 10% from highs of 16,691.60 to around 14,776 levels.
It must be highlighted that JP Morgan expects volatility in the small and mid-cap space to continue amid the risk of 5-10% further downside.
In the Nifty 50 index, over 40 stocks ended in the red, including TCS (4.37%), BPCL (4.15%) and Cipla (3.59%).
The shares of Bajaj Auto (1.47%), Bajaj Finance (1.25%) and Eicher Motors (0.82%) ended as the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index.
A volume spike of more than 300% was seen in Indus Towers, Exide Industries and Zee Entertainment. A short build-up was seen in Colgate Palmolive, Gujarat Gas and TCS, while a long build-up was seen in Bajaj Auto, Jubilant FoodWorks and TVS Motor Company.
On NSE, major sectoral indices ended in the red as Nifty IT was down 2.90%, Media by 2.45%, Pharma by 2.17%, and FMCG by 2.16%.
LIC further witnessed a 2.80% decline in its share price, settling at Rs 879.50 per share. This drop marks the stock’s third consecutive decline, resulting in an accumulated decrease of nearly 8.2% over the past three days.
One 97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, saw its share price continue its upward trajectory. Its shares climbed nearly 5% from the previous session.
The uptick is likely to be driven by an upgrade by Yes Securities, which raised its rating on the payment company’s stock from ‘neutral’ to ‘buy’.
The global markets are witnessing volatility as global cues remain a mixed bag even as dates of the general election in the country have been announced.
Investors remained cautious ahead of the US Fed meeting outcome on March 20.
Also, the negativity in Hong Kong and China markets after the Bank of Japan’s decision to hike interest rates after 17 years spilled over to the Indian market.
In the absence of any major domestic events, market participants will continue to take cues from the global events.