Sentiment turns sour as Nifty falls below 17,000; IT, FMCG, and realty become top draggers

Metal, auto & energy are supporting the market while IT and banks are weak.

Market update at 3.30 PM: Indian indices witnessed the worst fall in the last half hour. Nifty plummeted over 400 points and closed nearly at the day’s low at 16,958.65. Meanwhile, Sensex tanked about 1000 points and Nifty Midcap & Nifty Smallcap lost over 2 per cent each.    

All the sectoral indices witnessed severe profit booking with Nifty IT, Nifty FMCG, and Nifty Realty plunging over 3 per cent each. HDFC Group was primarily responsible for Nifty’s downfall as HDFC, HDFC Life and HDFC Bank lost about 6.55 per cent, 5.28 per cent & 4.67 per cent, respectively. Nifty could have seen an even more severe fall had Reliance not supported the index. The stock gained about 3.20 per cent at the end of the day. With this, India VIX, which was about 5 per cent down, surged about 2.29 per cent at the end of the day.  

Nifty has formed a strong bearish candle and engulfed its previous candle, indicating strong weakness. Eyes would be on the global market to anticipate the fate of the index in the near term.   

Market update at 11.40 AM: Indices are trading higher amid volatility. Nifty has gained about a quarter per cent while Sensex climbed around 100 points. The benchmark index Nifty has surged about 70 points since its intraday low. Meanwhile, Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap continued to trade higher and are up by 0.76 per cent & 0.90 per cent, respectively.  

Among the sectors, metal, auto & energy are supporting the market while IT and banks are weak. Reliance, BPCL, and Coal India have emerged as the top gainers among Nifty stocks while HDFC twins & SBI Life Insurance are weak. With good positivity, India VIX has slipped nearly 4 per cent. 

Market update at 9.40 AM: Indices have opened higher on Tuesday. Nifty has opened higher by half a per cent but is currently experiencing selling pressure at higher levels. Nifty Midcap and Smallcap rose by about half a per cent each.  

Among the sectors, metals & auto are trading higher and supporting the market. Meanwhile, IT and banks are weak. With this, India VIX has slipped about 2 per cent. 

Pre-market update: Last night, the US markets closed lower amid volatility. NASDAQ slipped about 0.14 per cent while Dow Jones closed around 40 points lower. However, the American Futures opened higher today morning and with this, most of the Asian markets have opened higher. SGX Nifty indicates a higher opening for Nifty of about 50 points.

In the last trading session, the FIIs have sold aggressively for about Rs 6,387 crore while the DIIs supported the market by buying about Rs 3,341 crore worth of equity.

Crude oil continues to trade higher and is above the 113-mark, causing a rise in inflation fears.

Mindtree declared its quarterly result on Monday post market hours. The net profit stood at Rs 473 crore and is up by 49 per cent YoY. The revenue rose by 37 per cent YoY and the company has declared a dividend of 27 rupees.

Nifty found good support at the 17,100-level on Monday and is expected to trade with consolidation with a slightly positive bias today.