Nifty closes below 17,200, dragged by metals and banks

Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, and M&M emerged as the top gainers among Nifty stocks

Market update at 3.30 PM: Indices witnessed selling pressure towards the end as Nifty fell about 150 points from its intraday high. In the end, it closed lower by 1.27 per cent while Sensex tanked about 714 points. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap also closed negatively.   

Among the sectors, metals and financials were the top contributors to the fall. All the sectors closed in red whereas India VIX surged over 2 per cent.  

Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, and M&M emerged as the top gainers among Nifty stocks while Hindalco, SBI & HUL were the top losers.   

Nifty formed a bearish candle and closed nearly at the day’s low. On the weekly chart, the benchmark index formed a long-legged Doji candle, which indicates indecisiveness.   

Market update at 12.30 PM: Indices are trading lower amid volatility while Nifty slipped 0.70 per cent. However, the index recovered about 100 points from its intraday low and has strong support at 17,200. Sensex has lost nearly 400 points but the mid-cap and small-cap indices are relatively higher.  

Media is trading higher while the rest of the indices are weak. Inox Leisure, ZEEL, and PVR climbed 2.23 per cent, 2.12 per cent & 1.24 per cent, respectively, thereby, outperforming the broader market. Meanwhile, financials and metals are weak.

Market update at 10.30 AM: Indices trade lower amid volatility while Nifty is taking support at the crucial 17,200-level. Sensex is also down by 520 points. However, some strength is seen in the mid-cap as well as the small-cap space. 

Among the sectors, financials, pharma, metal & auto are weak today while metal and IT are flat. 

India VIX is higher by 2 per cent while the overall picture is slightly bearish.

Market update at 9.30 AM: Indices have opened lower amid bad global cues. Nifty is currently down by 0.96 per cent while Sensex has lost over 520 points. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap are marginally lower. 

All the sectors are in red whereas India VIX has surged over 3 per cent.  

Pre-market update: Last night, the US markets closed significantly lower on account of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's statement regarding aggressive Fed policy. He suggested that the interest rate hike of 50 bps would be on the cards in May. He added that it would be appropriate to hike the interest at a faster rate.
This was not taken well by the American markets, which consequently closed lower despite having a strong opening.
Thus, most of the Asian markets have opened lower, and SGX Nifty indicates a gap-down opening of about 200 points for Nifty.
Crude oil has surged nearly 2 per cent on account of fresh sanctions imposed on Russia by Europe, adding to inflation fears.

In the last trading session, the FIIs have sold to the tune of Rs 713 crore while the DIIs bought to the tune of Rs 2,823 crore, respectively.

Nifty is likely to open below 17,200 and the first hour would be keenly watched for the market to stabilise.