Nifty closes below 16,700; metal, oil and gas, IT drag the market

Tata Consumer Products, M&M, and Cipla emerged as the top gainers among Nifty stocks

Market update at 3.30 PM: Nifty recovered some of the lost points towards the end but closed at 16,663, down by 1.23 per cent. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap too experienced the selling pressure and closed lower by 0.41 per cent & 1.41 per cent, respectively.   

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Metal, Nifty Energy, Nifty Media and Nifty IT contributed the most to the market’s downfall while Nifty Auto & Nifty FMCG traded higher. Tata Consumer Products, M&M, and Cipla emerged as the top gainers among Nifty stocks while Hindalco, Tata Steel, ONGC & Coal India became the top losers.  

With this weakness, India VIX surged over 4 per cent.  

Nifty has formed a strong bearish candle on the daily timeframe with a lower shadow. Thus, Nifty is likely to face resistance at higher levels for some more time.  

Market update at 2.30 PM: Nifty has witnessed a free fall towards 16,500 in the last few minutes. Currently, the index is down by over 1.8 per cent while Sensex has lost about 1,000 points. Meanwhile, the mid-cap and small-cap indices have shredded over a per cent each.  

Metals, IT, and the energy sectors contributed the most to the market downfall while auto emerged as the only sector that is trading higher. With this, India VIX has surged over 6 per cent.  

Market update at 1.15 PM: Nifty is under pressure and has broken the strong support of 16,800. The benchmark index is currently down by 0.85 per cent and trades near 16,700. Meanwhile, Sensex has lost about 445 points. Even Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap are marginally down. With this selling pressure, India VIX has climbed 4 per cent.  

Among the sectors, metals, IT, energy, and media are seeing strong weakness while the auto sector is trading higher. Tata Consumer Products, Maruti, M&M are the top gainers among Nifty stocks while ONGC, Hindalco & JSW steel are weak today.  

It remains to be seen whether Nifty sees recovery from here on or faces more weakness. 

Market update at 10.45 AM: Major indices have been trading flat for the initial hours. Nifty is currently down by just 3.45 points while Sensex slipped by just 10 points. However, Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap are trading marginally higher. 

Auto, realty & banks are outperforming the other sectors and their indices are trading higher by over 1 per cent each. Meanwhile, the metal, IT, and energy sectors are trading on a weaker note. 

India VIX has surged over a per cent and is at 26. 

For Nifty, the level of 16,800 has acted as important support level and the index has recovered about 80 points after hitting the day’s low of 16,807.65.

Market update at 9.30 AM: Nifty opened higher despite weak global cues. The benchmark index opened at 16,900.65, up by 29.35 points or 0.17 per cent. However, currently, it’s trading flat. Meanwhile, Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap are trading marginally higher.  

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Realty has gained over a per cent while Nifty Pharma is up by about 0.91 per cent. However, Nifty Metal and Nifty IT are trading lower in the initial minutes of the trade. Asian Paints and IndusInd Bank have opened higher by over a per cent each.   

With this, India VIX has gained nearly a per cent. 

Pre-market update: Last night, NASDAQ slipped over 2 per cent and Dow Jones closed flat. With this, most of the Asian markets have opened lower while SGX Nifty indicates a lower opening of about 100 points.

The fourth round of the Russia-Ukraine peace talk is scheduled to take place today. Keeping this in view, the global market awaits with fingers crossed for a positive outcome.  

Meanwhile, crude oil has cooled off to around USD 100 per barrel, which traded around USD 130 per barrel, a few days ago.

In the last trading session, the FIIs have sold for about Rs 176 crore, which is one of the lowest figures on a YTD basis. Besides, the DIIs have bought about Rs 1,098 crore worth of equity.

Nifty is likely to test the support of 16,750-16,800 and any significant price action would be keenly watched.