Carnage on Friday: Nifty slipped 2 per cent; Sensex tanked 1,100 points as fear looms over D-street

 The fall was so severe that only two stocks, namely, IndusInd Bank and Cipla were the only gainers from Nifty 50 stocks.

Market update at 3.30 PM: Indices faced a severe sell-off as fears of uncertainty around interest rate hikes and soaring inflation weighed on investors’ sentiment. Ahead of the weekend, investors chose to book profit as Nifty plunged 1.94 per cent to close at 17,530 while Sensex tanked 1,094 points. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap tumbled 2.84 per cent & 2.56 per cent, respectively.  

All the sectors closed in red with Media, IT, and realty being the worst-affected sectors. The fall was so severe that only two stocks, namely, IndusInd Bank and Cipla were the only gainers from Nifty 50 stocks. Meanwhile, UPL, Tata Consumer Products, and Tech Mahindra were the top losers.   

The focus would now turn to the global markets and top Fed official comments to understand the further trend of the market.   

Market update at 2:10 PM: Nifty trades near the lowest point of the day as it has plummeted nearly 2 per cent. Almost 48 out of 50 stocks of Nifty 50 index are trading in red while two stocks, which are trading in the green, are IndusInd Bank and Cipla. On the other hand, Reliance Industries, Infosys, and HDFC Bank combinedly contributed over 100 points of loss to Nifty on Friday.   

India VIX, also known as the fear index, has jumped nearly 9 per cent, and is above the 20-mark!   

Talking about the sectoral performance, it’s a sea of red as all the sectoral indices were seen trading in red, led by Nifty Media, which has lost over 4 per cent. Meanwhile, there are many sectors that have declined more than 3 per cent like Nifty Realty, Nifty Auto, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty IT.   

Market update at 11 AM: Indices have witnessed a sell-off for the second day as Nifty fell below the 17,700 level. The benchmark index has slipped 1.05 per cent while Sensex lost over 620 points. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap have plunged 0.85 per cent each.   

Apart from Nifty Pharma, which is trading flat, all other sectoral indices are in red. IT and auto stocks are bleeding and are the top draggers. From Nifty 50 stocks, Tata Consumer Products, Hero MotoCorp, and M&M are the top losers while IndusInd Bank, Cipla & Sun Pharma are the top gainers.   

The advance-decline ratio is at 543:1,372, which indicates a firm grip of the bears over the market.   

Despite the weakness, some stocks like TRF, Global Education, PG Electroplast, and Servotech Power have seen strong buying interest.   

Immediate support for Nifty lies at its day’s low of 17,644 while a fall below this level can trigger a severe sell-off.   

Market update at 9.30 AM: Indices have opened lower amid bad global cues. Nifty has slipped 0.61 per cent while Sensex tumbled nearly 400 points. The mid-cap and small-cap stocks also witnessed profit booking at the beginning of the session.   

IT and auto are the prominent sectors in dragging the market. Meanwhile, realty is trading higher. India VIX has risen over a per cent.   

Pre-market update: The US markets faced a sell-off in the last trading session with Nasdaq slipping 1.43 per cent and Dow Jones tumbling 173 points. With this, most of the Asian markets have opened lower, and SGX Nifty indicates a gap-down opening of about 80 points for Nifty.
Crude oil falls over 3 per cent as fear of long-term recession mounts. Currently, WTI crude oil trades at 85.51 level while Brent crude is at USD 92 per barrel.
Meanwhile, Adani Ports is likely to enhance Haldia dock's capacity in Bengal while MTAR Technologies recently bagged an order worth over Rs 540 crore in the clean energy segment. Thus, these stocks shall be in focus today.
In the last trading session, the FIIs as well as the DIIs turned net sellers and sold equity worth Rs 1,270 crore & Rs 928 crore, respectively.

The level of 17,800 shall act as immediate support while Nifty is likely to open around it.