Frontline indices the Sensex and the Nifty snapped a two-day winning run, ending lower on February 10, amid weak global cues as the risk appetite of investors remained low on uncertainty over rate hikes and global economic growth.
Major European markets were trading lower, following a drop in the US markets overnight.
Sharp gains in crude oil prices also weighed on market sentiment.
Oil prices jumped more than 2 percent as Russia announced plans to reduce oil production next month after the West imposed price caps on the country's oil and oil products, reported Reuters.
Brent Crude traded near the $87 per barrel mark. The rupee inched by a paise to end at 82.51 per dollar.
Sensex closed 124 points, or 0.20 percent, lower at 60,682.70. The Nifty50 closed at 17,856.50, down 37 points, or 0.21 percent.
Mid and smallcaps outperformed the benchmark Sensex. The BSE Midcap index inched by 0.04 percent while the Smallcap index rose 0.48 percent.
Some 120 stocks, including Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission, Barbeque-Nation Hospitality, Greenpanel Industries and Page Industries, hit their 52-week lows in intraday trade on BSE.
Top Nifty gainers: Shares of Tata Motors, UPL, Cipla, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC Life ended as the top gainers in the Nifty index.
Top Nifty losers: Shares of Adani Enterprises, HCL Tech, Hindalco, Tata Steel and Coal India ended as the top losers in the Nifty pack.
Sectoral picture
Sectoral indices ended mixed, with Nifty Metal falling 1.82 percent and Nifty Realty rising 1.36 percent. Nifty Oil & Gas, IT and FMCG indices fell up to half a percent.
Nifty PSU Bank, Auto, Media and Consumer Durables ended in the green.
Expert's views on markets
"Domestic indices lost ground following the global rout as investors speculated over the prospects of further policy tightening," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Nair added that worries over a looming recession escalated as the President of Richmond Fed added to the hawkish comments by the Fed speakers. The announcement by MSCI to reduce the weighting of four Adani Group companies further hurt sentiments at home.
Technical views on markets
Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas pointed out that on the daily charts, we can observe that the Nifty has been consolidating for the past couple of trading sessions within the range of 17,740 – 17,920.
Gedia said on the upside, the key daily moving averages placed in the range of 17,870 – 17,960 is acting as a stiff resistance and restricting an upside. On the downside, the zone of 17,800 – 17,744 is providing a cushion and has been absorbing the selling pressure.
"The breach of this range shall lead to trending moves in that particular direction. Overall, we expect this range to break on the upside and test the upper end (18,100) of the downward-sloping channel from a short-term perspective," said Gedia.
On the open interest (OI) front, Rahul Ghose, Founder & CEO of Hedged, an algorithm-powered advisory platform, pointed out that on February 9, Call writing was seen at the 17,900 level which prevented the Nifty from moving to the upside. This continued today with Put writing at 17,800 which led to the rangebound movement of Nifty, between 17,800 and 17,900.
"Towards the last half of the session, the number of puts being written at the 17,800 level went up, propelling the market to reduce its losses. The highest OI concentration remains at the 17,800 strike on the put side and at the 18,000 strike on the Call side," said Ghose.
Key market data
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of MintGenie.
