The Sensex and the Nifty domestic equity benchmarks suffered strong losses on December 21 even as global markets were mostly positive.
Sensex opened 291 points higher at 61,993.71 amid positive global cues but failed to hold gains. It plunged 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 ended 186 points, or 1.01 percent, down at 18,199.10.
Mid and smallcaps underperformed; the BSE Midcap index fell 1.40 percent while the Smallcap index plunged 2.18 percent.
The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms dropped to ₹282.9 lakh crore from ₹287.4 crore in the previous session, making investors poorer by ₹4.5 lakh crore in a single session.
Crude oil prices rose after data suggested a larger-than-expected draw in US crude stockpiles, but gains were capped by growing concerns over demand in China and a snowstorm that is expected to hit US travel, reported Reuters. Brent Crude traded over a percent higher near $81 per dollar.
The rupee fell 6 paise to close at 82.82 per dollar after the greenback weakened against its global peers.
Top Sensex gainers: Sun Pharma, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, TCS and Nestle ended as the top gainer stocks in the Sensex index.
Top Sensex losers: IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv and ICICI Bank ended as the top laggards in the Sensex kitty of stocks.
Sectoral picture
Most sectoral indices suffered losses but Nifty Healthcare and Pharma indices bucked the trend, jumping more than 2 percent each. The Nifty IT index rose 0.53 percent.
Nifty Media, PSU Bank and Metal indices fell up to 3 percent. Nifty Bank, Private Bank, Oil & Gas and Realty indices fell up to 2 percent.
Experts' views on markets
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities pointed out that the Indian markets underperformed their Asian peers and came down crumbling on the broad-based selloff, mainly over concerns that recessionary fears in key major economies will spill over the local growth prospects going ahead.
Investors are also worried that mounting Covid cases in China may lead to further deterioration in global economic health prompting traders to cut their equity market exposure.
Technical view by experts
Nifty found resistance near 18,450 one more time and corrected sharply. It also formed a long bearish candle on daily charts which is broadly 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 flip side, a fresh pullback rally is possible only after the dismissal of 18,350. Above which, the index could move up to 18,450-18,475,” said Chouhan.
Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas observed the Nifty stumbled near the hourly upper Bollinger band.
"Nifty breached certain short-term supports on the way down and ended marginally below the level of 18,200. Volatility index India VIX shot up today which can lead to increased volatility in the short term. The index can have a short-term range shift on the downside and can test 18,000 on the downside which is a crucial support. On the other hand, the short-term resistance zone shifts lower to 18,450-18,500," said Ratnaparkhi.
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.
