Carnage on Friday: Nifty closes just above 17,300; Sensex bleeds over 1,000 points as financials take a hit

Financials were the top underperformers as news reports of banks taking a liquidity hit for the first time in forty months led to a sell-off across all private and PSU banks.

Market update at 3.30 PM: It was carnage on Friday as a severe sell-off in the Indian equity markets took investors by surprise. Nifty tumbled 1.72 per cent to close just above 17,300 while Sensex tanked more than 1,000 points. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap also faced the heat as they slipped 2.35 per cent & 2.04 per cent, respectively.  

Financials were the top underperformers as news reports of banks taking a liquidity hit for the first time in forty months led to a sell-off across all private and PSU banks. All the sectoral indices closed in red while India VIX rose nearly 10 per cent to close above the 20 level.   

Power Grid Corp, Hindalco & Apollo Hospitals were the top losers while Divi’s Labs, Sun Pharma, and ITC emerged as the top gainers.

Nifty formed a strong red candle on the technical chart, which shows bearish implications. RBI meeting, scheduled for next week, is likely to dictate further trends while global cues shall continue to be in focus.   

Market update at 2.15 PM: Indices witnessed a severe sell-off as Nifty plunged below 17,400 level. Sensex tumbled nearly 1,000 points.  

Banks have seen a sharp sell-off as Nifty Bank slipped nearly 3 per cent.  

Market update at 11.05 AM: Indices are trading lower amid bad global cues. Nifty has slipped over a per cent while Sensex tanked over 650 points. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap have slipped 1.19 per cent & 1.09 per cent, respectively.   

Except for IT and pharma, all other sectors are trading negatively. Financials have seen strong profit booking.   05Meanwhile, stocks like Maruti Suzuki, Page Industries, and ABFRL have hit their respective fresh 52-week high levels today.   

Immediate support for Nifty lies at 14,400, below which, the index can witness a severe sell-off.   

Market update at 9.35 AM: Indices have been trading lower amid volatility as Nifty has plunged below the 17,500 level. It is down by nearly 1 per cent while Sensex has lost over 550 points. Selling pressure is also seen in the mid-cap as well as the small-cap stocks.   

All sectors are in red while India VIX has risen over 3 per cent. 

Pre-market update: The US market closed lower amid volatility as aggressive rate hike led to a sell-off in technology stocks. Nasdaq slipped 1.37 per cent while Dow Jones lost 107 points. The European markets also saw profit booking as DAX fell 1.87 per cent and FTSE plunged 1.08 per cent.
With bad cues, the Asian markets opened lower on Friday morning, and SGX Nifty indicates a gap-down opening of about 80 points for Nifty.
Bank of England announced another rate hike of 50 basis points on Thursday, taking the benchmark rates to 2.25 per cent.
Oil prices have risen after Iran deal stalled. Brent futures currently trade above the 90 level.
In the last trading session, the FIIs sold to the tune of Rs 2,509 crore while the DIIs bought shares worth Rs 263 crore.
Nifty is likely to open lower below the 17,600 level and stock-specific action shall be watchful.