Nifty closes above 16,600; Coal India, HDFC Life, SBI Life emerge as top gainers

Nifty Metal and Nifty Media closed significantly higher by about 4.07 per cent & 1.81 per cent, respectively,

Market update at 3.30 PM: Nifty witnessed a strong recovery towards the end and closed above 16,600. At the end of the day, Nifty closed lower by 1.12 per cent while Sensex lost over 775 points. Nifty Midcap closed flat while Nifty Smallcap closed higher by about half a per cent.  

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Metal and Nifty Media closed significantly higher by about 4.07 per cent & 1.81 per cent, respectively, while the rest of the indices traded lower throughout the day. Coal India, HDFC Life & SBI Life emerged as the top gainers among Nifty stocks while Maruti Suzuki, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, and Bajaj Auto were weak today.   

Nifty has held 16,500 levels, and thus, this level would act as an important support level in the coming days.  

Market update at 12.30 PM: Indices have extended losses with Nifty falling sharply towards 16,500. It is currently down by over 1.6 per cent while Sensex has shredded over 1,070 points. Even the mid-cap and small-cap indices have lost most of their gains.  

Among the sectors, banks, NBFCs & auto performed poorly and have a major contribution in dragging the market. However, metal and media continue to trade higher.   

India VIX has surged over 6 per cent and is placed above 30. The situation has turned bad and the 16,500 is a key level to watch out for Nifty.

Market update at 10.15 AM: Nifty is trading in a range-bound manner in the first hour of the trading session. It is currently down by a per cent while Sensex has lost over 700 points. However, Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap are trading higher by 0.3 per cent & 0.95 per cent, respectively.  

India VIX has surged over 4 per cent. Most of the sectors are trading lower. However, Nifty Metal has soared more than 4 per cent and continues to trade stronger. Meanwhile, Nifty Media is up by 2.12 per cent.  

Pre-market update: The US markets tumbled on Tuesday night with NASDAQ slipping about 1.59 per cent while Dow Jones tanked around 600 points. The European markets also felt the selling pressure as Paris and Frankfurt plummeted nearly 4 per cent each. 

With this, the Asian markets have opened lower with SGX losing around 200 points and indicating an opening near 16,500. 

The Russia-Ukraine war is still alive, even after seven days of conflict. The diplomacy talks have failed to arrive at a conclusion and Russian forces are seen closing on to the Ukrainian capital city - Kyiv. The USA has imposed more sanctions on Russia and barred the American airspace for Russian airlines. 

Meanwhile, the Indian Finance Minister has considered LIC IPO, which is currently under review amid the global tension. 

Crude oil is up by nearly 5 per cent on Wednesday morning and is trading above 108 dollars per barrel. The safer havens like gold and silver have also jumped on Wednesday early morning. 

Besides, the Options data suggests a very wide range of 17,500 on the upper side and 16,000 on the lower side. During these uncertain times, volatility is expected to rise further.