Bull run halts on Dalal Street; Nifty closes negative after 9 positive sessions; PSU Banks gain

Among Nifty 50 stocks, Nestle India, Powergrid Corporation, and State Bank of India were the top gainers, while Infosys, HCL Tech, and Tech Mahindra were the top losers

Market update at 3.30 PM:  

The Nifty ended in the red today, after nine consecutive positive sessions, closing around 121 points or 0.68% lower at approximately 17,706. The S&P BSE Sensex also closed lower, down around 520 points. However, the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 rallied by 0.39% and 0.33%, respectively.

Sectors such as PSU Banks, Realty, and FMCG outperformed the Nifty, while the IT, Media, and Pharma sectors remained weak throughout the day. Among Nifty 50 stocks, Nestle India, Powergrid Corporation, and State Bank of India were the top gainers, while Infosys, HCL Tech, and Tech Mahindra were the top losers.

Despite opening on a weak note, the Nifty recovered from the day's low due to strong profit-booking in the morning session. The next key levels for the Nifty are 17,600 and 17,800.

Market update at 11.05 AM: Indices have been trading lower amid poor sentiment in the IT stocks. The IT bellwether TCS and Infosys tanked at 2.32 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. NSE Nifty 50 index has slipped 1 per cent to trade below 17,700 levels while S&P BSE Sensex has lost over 700 points. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap are trading marginally lower.

Except for FMCG and PSU Banks, all other sectors have been trading negatively. The IT index is down by nearly 6 per cent post the Infosys results.

About 875 stocks are advancing while 1133 stocks are declining on the NSE, thus showing weak sentiment in the market.

However, some stocks like Nestle India, Power Grid Corporation and Kotak Mahindra Bank are the top gainers from the Nifty 50 stocks while Infosys, Tech Mahindra and Wipro are weak today.

Level of 17,600 happens to be a crucial intraday support for Nifty and any fall below this level can trigger a fresh sell-off.

Market update at 9.25 AM: Indices have witnessed strong selling pressure at the start of the session. NSE Nifty 50 index has slipped 0.86 per cent to trade below 17,700 levels while S&P BSE Sensex has lost over 600 points. Midcap and Smallcap stocks also remain under pressure. 

The IT index is down over 6 per cent post the Infosys results. The IT giant has tanked over 10 per cent at the pre-opening session. India VIX has surged over 7 per cent amid such strong volatility. 

 Pre-market update:   

On Friday, Dow Jones Industrial Average ended in red around 143 points or 0.42 per cent at the 33,886 level after the strong rally on Thursday. Nasdaq 100 Index also traded strongly in the last 2 sessions and closed around 1.8 per cent higher from the previous close. 

In the global commodity market, Gold remained volatile and closed below the opening levels of Wednesday however Silver closed just above the same level. Brent crude futures also retraced Wednesday's move of 1.94 per cent.  

In Thursday's trading session, FIIs bought Rs 221.85 crore and DIIs sold Rs 273.68 crore in the equity segment. In the Derivative segment as compared to the previous session, clients unwinded their longs and added shorts in index futures. DIIs are also in the same camp and added shorts in the last session heavily. 

On the flip side, PROs added some longs along with short covering and FIIs continuously added longs from the last 9 consecutive sessions with covering their shorts. Because of this action FIIs index long positions now came to the neutral zone of around 39.27 per cent from the oversold zone of 7.75 per cent. 

Now SGX Nifty indicates Nifty is likely to open gap down. Technically, 17,850 and 17,750 will be the trend-deciding levels for the day.

Important events of the week 

Tuesday, April 18 – China Industrial production YOY Data, China GDP Growth rate, England Unemployment rate 

Wednesday, April 19 - England Inflation rate YOY Data