"Oil prices surged above $130 a barrel for the 1st time since July 2008, following the risk of a U.S. and European ban on Russia’s oil export which accounts for about 10% of global supply. As a result, the domestic market along with its global peers witnessed a huge sell-off from opening hours. Inflationary pressure is also witnessed in other commodities like gold, aluminium, copper, etc which will eventually eat away corporate profits in the coming quarters"

Indian indices end lower for the fourth straight session on Monday, down 2-3 percent dragged by losses across sectors as crude oil soared to $130 per barrel amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Losses in global peers also weakened the sentiment. The Sensex ended 1,491 points or 2.7 percent lower at 52,842.75 while the Nifty lost 382 points or 2.3 percent to settle at 15,863.

Broader markets also ended in the red but outperformed benchmark indices. The Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices were down around 2 percent each. Among sectors, Nifty Realty lost over 5 percent while Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto and Nifty Fin Services shed over 4 percent each. Metal was the only sector that ended in the green, up 2 percent.

Buying Range: ₹1450-1510

Adding band: ₹1280-1320

Target: ₹1650 and ₹1795

Stop Loss: ₹1195

Time Horizon: 3-6 months

“The company has delivered healthy revenue/PAT growth of 10.8%/22.2% CAGR over FY16-21 on the back of its diversified end-user industry applications; strong positioning in the domain of phosphorus, its derivatives & related chemistry and its resilient R&D focus. Low debt level and sizeable investment position could fund capex plans. Excel Industries has its focus on product lines including pharma intermediates, polymer inputs and specialty chemicals which are low volume, but high value products. Product additions and extensions and positive developments in the pharma and environment-biotech segment would make a strong case for re-rating of the stock in the long term.”

Japan's Nikkei share average plunged the most in more than five weeks on Monday, as the Russia-Ukraine war showed no signs of abating, pushing up oil and other commodity prices and stoking fears of a stagflationary shock to the global economy. The Nikkei lost 2.94% to end at 25,221.41, its biggest drop since Jan. 27. Earlier in the session, it hit its lowest since November 2020 at 25,006.26, near the psychological level of 25,0000.

"Gold continues to move higher witnessing a sharp upside touching the $2000 level, investors rush towards the safe havens as an increase in the tension between Russia and Ukraine and continuous updates regarding the war give a boost to the bullion prices. Talks between Russia and Ukraine officials were scheduled towards the end of last week where markets were expecting some relief and ease off in the ongoing tensions although no concrete outcome was witnessed in the same giving a boost in dollar and bullion prices.

News regarding strikes from Russia and retaliation from Ukraine, impact regarding near the nuclear plants also are influencing market participants to move out of riskier assets. Focus for the week will be on the ECB policy meet, updates from fed officials and development in the Russia-Ukraine situation. Broader trend on COMEX could be in the range of $1940 - 2040 and on the domestic front prices could hover in the range of Rs. 52,900 – above 54000 could be expected.”

Indian markets were trading under pressure on Monday following weakness across global peers as crude oil prices soared to $130 per barrel amid the Russia-Ukraine Crisis. Both Sensex and Nifty lost around 3% with banking and realty index tanking the most, over 5% each. All sectors, except Nifty Metal, also fell. Broader markets also declined in-line with benchmark indices with the midcap and small-cap indices down around 2.5-3% each.

Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. said that it will consider the declaration of interim dividend for FY2021-2022 in its board meeting on Thursday. The stock rose over 2% in intraday trade in a weak market.

"Demand weakness continued across segments, though PVs improved sequentially, while CVs performed better within the peer group. Much slower recovery in rural led to highly subdued sales performance for most companies. Slower rural recovery is also visible in the muted performance of rural-centric vehicles like tractors and 2-wheelers in February 2022. Overall wholesale volume was more or less in line with weaker retail volume for most segments except PVs. Channel check suggests that overall sales performance was weak across segments in Feb’22. We expect volume pressure to continue over the next 1-2 months and then volume to improve in FY23 with a healthy rabi crop, which may change the rural sentiment," the brokerage highlighted.

Brokerage house Dolat Analysis and Research downgrade IRCTC to 'sell' with a target at ₹600 per share, indicating a 25 percent downside in the current market price. IRCTC has shared that the Indian Railways have now decided to normalize Second Seating class (2S) accommodations in all trains back to the unreserved category as per the applicability in the pre-pandemic period. This announcement is a significant negative for IRCTC as at present 2S class accounts for nearly 38.6% (48mn per quarter) of tickets booked in Q3FY22, noted Dolat.

"This event was a consistent investor concern and has finally come out to be true, and would add more uncertainty around the sudden change in policies by Indian Railways and its potential impact on earnings across business segments and we believe the stock would see some de-rating," it said in a note.

Saudi Arabia's state oil producer Aramco raised the April official selling prices (OSPs) for crude it sells to Asia by more than $2 a barrel, with some grades hitting all-time highs, as global markets struggled with Russian oil disruption. Record Saudi crude prices come on the back of an expected rise in Middle East oil demand as surging spot premiums and freight rates put supplies from Europe, Africa and the Americas out of Asia's reach.

FPIs have turned net sellers for 5 consecutive months in Feb and have sold Indian equities worth $14.6 billion in the last 5 months. Just in Feb, this figure stood at $5 billion.

“The Rupee hit an all-time low of 77.02/$ this morning as global markets continued to reel under selling pressure. Global economies are facing a heightened risk of a recession this year as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine severely disrupts supply chains and has flared up commodity prices since the conflict began. Brent crude oil prices have rallied by another 10% this morning as are trading at 130$/bbl. Important metals like Nickel, Aluminum and Copper prices have also rallied to hit all-time highs.

Despite surging prices, the United States and European allies mull a Russian oil import ban. A boycott would put enormous pressure on the already tight supply side. The Domestic markets will be watching out for the outcome of the State election results due to be released on Mar, 10. A reversal of the recent losses will be seen only if SPOT USDINR pair breaks below 76.50. The pair will have upside targets of 77.30/77.52 levels until support holds.”

Indian markets were off day's low after Russia declares ceasefires for civilian evacuations in some cities. The Sensex was still down around 1,250 points and the Nifty shed over 300 points. Broader markets also trimmed some losses with the midcap and smallcap indices now down around 2 percent each, from 3 percent in early deals. Among sectors, IT and metal were positive while the other remained in the red.

Russia has declared ceasefires for the cities of Kyiv, Kharkov, Mariupol and Sumy to allow for civilian evacuations.

Domestic brokerage house Elara Capital has upgraded RIL from ‘accumulate’ to ‘buy’ on revived refining margin, Petchem demand above pre-Covid level, Retail revival to pre-Covid level, Jio’s ARPU growth prospects and new energy investment visibility. It has also raised its target price to ₹2,981 from ₹2,793 earlier, implying a 31% upside.

Post the glitch noted in Nifty and Nifty Bank indices, NSE tweeted, "this is to update you that broadcast has resumed normally in all indices."

Varun Beverages, an Indian firm that operates the franchisee of PepsiCo and produces, bottles and distributes beverages, has come under the radar of several brokerages ever since it signed a co-packing agreement to manufacture ‘Kurkure Puffcorn’ for PepsiCo India Holdings in February 2022. Brokerages feel the Kurkure deal, which is the company's first extension into a non-beverage category, could usher in a bright tomorrow for the company. Amid the sharp selloff in the market, the stock of Varun Beverages has climbed about 3 percent since February while the benchmark Nifty has fallen more than 6 percent in the same period. READ MORE

Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) rallied 5 percent to ₹172.65 on the BSE in an otherwise weak market as crude oil prices soared to a 14-year high, trading near $130 per barrel

Heavyweights HDFC Bank, RIL, ICICI Bank, HDFC, L&T contributed the most to Sensex's 1600-point fall.

According to the Bulls & Bears report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFSL), The Nifty ended 3.1% MoM lower at 16,794 in Feb’22. This was the second consecutive month of a decline and in fact the second steepest MoM decline in 23 months. During the last 12 months, midcaps have risen 21% (v/s a 16% rise for the Nifty), while in the last five years, they have underperformed by 18%.

"The extraordinary uncertainty triggered by the war has pushed commodity markets into turmoil. Crude at $ 128 is a big shock. This can impact global growth and aggravate inflationary pressures. In India, growth will be lower and inflation higher than projected for FY23.

The market is slipping into bearish territory. Investors have to be cautious. There is relative safety in energy due to high energy prices, metals due to high global prices and export segments due to resilient demand and rupee depreciation. Calibrated buying in very small quantities may be considered in the above-mentioned segments"

The domestic currency opened around 77 against US Dollar, down Re 1

All sectors, except Nifty Metal, were trading under pressure. Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty Fin Services and Nifty Realty lost over 4 percent each while Nifty Pharma and Nifty FMCG were down around 2 percent each. Nifty IT lost 1.5 percent.

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