Nifty closes at 17,400 level; Sensex tanks nearly 700 points as banks and realty plunge

Tata Motors, NTPC and Maruti Suzuki emerged as the top gainers from the Nifty 50 stocks

Market update at 3.30 PM: In a volatile end to the Friday’s session, Nifty finally closed at 17,400 levels, down by 1 per cent. S&P BSE Sensex lost 671 points while Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap plunged 0.75 per cent and 0.89 per cent respectively.   

Banks and NBFCs tanked the most today in the aftermath of globally triggered sell-off in banking stocks. Silicon Valley Bank from US reported a loss of over Rs 15,000 crore which was a primary reason for this sell-off.   

Despite the weakness, Tata Motors, NTPC and Maruti Suzuki emerged as the top gainers from the Nifty 50 stocks while Adani Enterprises, HDFC bank and Apollo Hospitals were the top losers.  

With US jobs reports set to be released today, the US markets shall be in focus.   

Market update at 11 AM: Indices have been trading lower amid strong volatility. NSE Nifty 50 index has slipped 1.09 per cent to trade at 17,400 levels. Interestingly, the index has recovered about 80 points from the day’s low. Meanwhile, S&P BSE Sensex has tanked over 700 points while Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap have plunged 1 per cent and 0.68 per cent respectively.   

Except for Nifty FMCG which is trading flat, all other sectoral indices are negative. Banks and IT stocks are most affected and are dragging the markets.   

About 680 stocks are advancing as against 1,263 stocks that are declining, thus indicating weakness in the broader market.   

17,300 holds a good support for Nifty and any fall below this level can trigger fresh short positions.   

Market update at 9.30 AM: Indices have opened lower amid poor global cues. NSE Nifty 50 index has slipped 1 per cent to trade at 17,400 levels while S&P BSE Sensex has tanked over 700 points at the start of the session. The broader market is also under pressure.  

All the sectoral indices are weak today and India VIX has surged over 7 per cent.  

Pre-market update: The US indices closed sharply lower on Thursday after investors worried that US jobs report could fuel more aggressive rate hikes from the Fed. Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked over 543 points while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped over 2 per cent on what can be called as the sharpest fall in recent times.  

With this, the Asian markets have reacted negatively and SGX Nifty has slipped nearly a per cent to indicate an opening near 17,500 levels for Nifty.  

Oil prices slipped for yet another day as fears of prolonged higher interest rates continues to dent investors’ sentiment. Brent crude oil plunged over a per cent to trade below USD 82 per barrel. 

In the last trading session, the FIIs sold shares worth Rs 561 crore while the DIIs bought equity worth Rs 42 crore only.  

Nifty is expected to open with a major gap-down and first hour of price action shall be important to anticipate the further trend in the market.