Sensex, Nifty suffer heavy losses; investors lose more than ₹ 4 lakh crore | Jobs Vox

Domestic equity indices Sensek and Nifti suffered heavy losses on December 21 even as global markets were broadly positive.

The Sensex opened 291 points higher at 61,993.71 on positive global cues but failed to hold on to gains. It fell 764 points to an intraday low of 60,938.38.

The index finally closed 635 points, or 1.03 percent, lower at 61,067.24, while the Nifty closed 186 points, or 1.01 percent, at 18,199.10.

Mid and smallcaps failed; The BSE Midcap index fell by 1.40 percent, while the Smallcap index fell by 2.18 percent.

The total market capitalization of firms on the BSE fell to ₹282.9 million crowns from ₹287.4 million in the previous session, which made investors even poorer ₹4.5 lakh crore in one session.

Crude oil prices rose after data showed a larger-than-expected draw in US crude inventories, but gains were limited by growing concerns about demand in China and a snowstorm expected to hit US travel, Reuters reported. Brent crude traded up more than one percent near $81 to the dollar.

The rupee fell 6 paise to close at 82.82 against the dollar after the greenback weakened against global peers.

Top Sensex Gainers: Sun Pharma, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, TCS and Nestle ended as the top gainers in the Sensek index.

Top Sensex Losers: IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv and ICICI Bank ended as the top laggards in the Sensex cat of stocks.

Most sectoral indices suffered losses, but the Nifti Healthcare and Pharma indices bucked the trend, each jumping more than 2 percent. The Nifty IT index rose 0.53 percent.

The indices of Nifti Media, PSU Bank and Metal fell to 3 percent. The Nifti Bank, Private Bank, Oil & Gas and Real Estate indices fell to 2 percent.

Expert views on markets

Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research (retail), Kotak Securities pointed out that Indian markets underperformed their Asian peers and fell apart due to a broad-based sell-off, mainly on concerns that recession fears in key major economies would spill over to local growth prospects for advancement.

Investors are also concerned that the rising number of Covid cases in China could lead to a further deterioration in global economic health, prompting traders to reduce their equity market exposure.

Technical review by experts

Nifty once again found resistance near 18,450 and corrected sharply. It also formed a long bear candle on the daily charts which is mostly negative.

“As long as the index trades below 18,350, weakness is likely to continue and below the same, it could slip to 18,100-18,050.” On the other hand, a new pullback is possible only after discarding 18,350. Above that, the index could move to 18,450-18,475,” Chouhan said.

Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, head of technical research at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, noted that the Nifty has stumbled near the hourly upper Bollinger band.

“The Nifty broke through certain short-term supports on the way down and ended marginally below the 18,200 level. The India VIX Volatility Index jumped today which may lead to increased volatility in the short term. The index may have a short-term range move on the downside and may test 18,000 on the downside, which is key support. On the other hand, the short-term resistance zone is moving lower at 18,450-18,500,” Ratnaparkhi said.

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are the views of individual analysts. This does not represent the views of MintGenie.