Nifty closed below 17,300; banks outperform

The weekend focus would still be on the Eastern Europe tussle, following which, we can see a clarity of the trend.   

Market update at 3.30 PM: Nifty traded largely in a range-bound manner throughout the day. However, slight selling pressure was seen towards the end as it slipped below 17,300. In the end, the benchmark index closed marginally down by 0.16 per cent while Sensex lost 60 points. The worrying point to note here is that the index has formed a bearish candle with a long upper shadow, indicating selling pressure. This can be attributed to the fact that the market participants are reluctant to hold their positions over the weekend. Moreover, severe selling pressure was seen in the mid-cap as well as the small-cap stocks as their indices slipped 0.91 per cent & 1 per cent, respectively.   

Among the sectors, only banking stocks traded higher throughout the day and closed in green. All other sectors closed lower and indicated weakness. The top gainers among Nifty stocks are Coal India, SBI Life, and HDFC while the top losers included ONGC, Cipla & Divi’s Labs.  

The weekend focus would still be on the Eastern Europe tussle, following which, we can see a clarity of the trend.   

Market update at 12.45 PM: It seems to be a quiet day for the Indian Indices as not much action has been witnessed, so far. Nifty is trading slightly higher by 45 points or 0.30 per cent. Even the broader market is trading mixed. Nifty Midcap is flat while Nifty Smallcap is marginally down.  

Among the sectors, banks and metal continue to outperform the sectors. Nifty Pharma is, however, trading weak today. The top gainers among Nifty stocks are Coal India, SBI Life Insurance, and Grasim while the ones that are weak today include Cipla, ONGC & Divi’s Labs.  

India VIX has slipped nearly a per cent after surging nearly 3 per cent in the first hour of the trade.   

Market update at 10.15 AM: Indices have been trading flat amid volatility in the first hour of the session. Nifty is currently down by just 3 points while Sensex lost 20 points. Even Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap are trading mixed. 

However, India VIX is up by nearly 2 per cent. Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Media, Nifty Metal, Nifty Realty, and Nifty PSU Bank are supporting the market while Nifty IT, Nifty FMCG & Nifty Pharma are trading lower. 

The top stocks to focus on are Coal India, Power Grid, and L&T.

Pre-market update: Last night, the US markets witnessed the worst fall in recent weeks as NASDAQ fell nearly 3 per cent while Dow Jones shredded about 622 points, on account of rising tensions in Eastern Europe.
This led Asian markets to open lower with SGX Nifty indicating a lower opening of about 50 points for Nifty.
In the last trading session, the FIIs sold for about Rs 1,242 crore while the DIIs bought about Rs 901 crore worth of equity.
Crude oil has fallen over 2 per cent on easing sanctions on Iran.
 The geopolitical tensions escalated again on Thursday, which further spooked investors to invest in defensive investments options such as bonds and gold. The market will only find its way up if clarity emerges regarding the Russia-Ukraine problem.