Covid scare, rise in bond yield spook mkts for 5th day; Sensex dips 585 pts

HCL Tech, Infosys, Dr Reddy's Labs, NTPC, TCS, Reliance Industries, and Tech Mahindra, all down between 2 per cent and 3.5 per cent, were the top losers on the Sensex

4:49 PM

TECH VIEW :: Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities

The short term trend of Nifty continues to be weak. Having placed at the lower support of 14500 levels, one needs to be cautious for any upside bounce. A decisive move below 14500 levels is likely to open broad based weakness in the market and on such scenario, the Nifty could test 14000 levels in the next week.

4:37 PM

TECH VIEW :: Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities

Index closed a day at 14585 with loss of nearly one percent and formed a bearish candle on daily chart for the fifth consecutive session. The index managed to hold above 14500 zone which is the immediate support on the downside for coming sessions also any close below 14500 zone may see some pressure but holding above said levels can result in good bounce towards immediate hurdle zone of 14600-14700 zone which immediate hurdle zone on the higher side

4:25 PM

TECH VIEW :: Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research

Today the market failed to show resilience to stay above the level of 14750. As of now, the short-term technical condition of the market shows that the expected range of the market is likely to be between 14410 and 14900. While it is subject to further price action evolution, it is prudent to wait for volatility to subdue and technical factors to improve before attempting to build short to medium term investments. As such we retain our cautious stance, until further improvement and breakout seen above 14900. 

4:20 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities

ndian benchmark equity indices ended lower in the fifth straight session on March 18. The Nifty started to fall sharply post 1245Hrs. At close, the Nifty was down 163.40 points or 1.11% at 14,557.90. Highest spike to new Covid-19 cases in the past 102 days, rise in U.S. bond yields and weekly options related volatility kept sentiment risk-off.

 

Volumes on the NSE continued to be below recent average. Among sectors IT, Pharma, PSU Bank, Realty fell the most while FMCG, Metals ended marginally in the positive. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices shed over 1 percent each.

 

Nifty has closed at the lowest since Feb 26, though in terms of intra-day low it has gone below even that. Indian markets continue to perform the worst in the region as resurgence of Covid-19 has led to fears of the momentum in the economy slowing down. A close below 14529 would mean that the Nifty is in the midst of an intermediate correction. 14281-14478 could be the support band for the Nifty while 14639-14696 could provide resistance. 

4:09 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

Indian equities pared its early optimism and fell into a sharp correction as US bond yield rose to its highest level since January. Dovish comments from the Fed chief on the strong economic bounce back and continuation of its accommodative stance, could not weigh down the rally in the US bond market.  Indian markets had witnessed higher volatility compared to its global peers as domestic investors turned extra cautious on increasing Covid cases in India & a fall in FII inflows

4:03 PM

MARKET RECAP :: S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities

With US 10-year yield hitting their highest level in over a year, bears held the upper hand on Thursday even as the FED kept rates unchanged. Selling in Financials kept markets in the red with broader markets seeing profit booking in IT & Pharma stocks ahead of the FTSE rebalancing tomorrow

4:01 PM

IPO Update

>> Nazara Tech subscribed 9.8x on Day 2

>> Suryoday SFB subscribed 83% on Day 2

>> Kalyan Jewellers subscribed 2.5x on final day

Note: Update till 3:50 pm

3:55 PM

SECTOR WATCH :: Pharma stocks the the list of losers

3:53 PM

SECTOR WATCH :: Nifty IT underperforms benchmarks, cracks 3%

3:50 PM

S&P BSE SmallCap index dips 1.6%

3:49 PM

S&P BSE MidCap index dips 1%

3:48 PM

Stocks that dragged the Sensex lower today

3:45 PM

Sectoral trends on the NSE

3:40 PM

Sensex Heatmap at Close

3:35 PM

CLOSING BELL

The S&P BSE Sensex index eventually ended at 49,216.5 levels, down 585 points or 1.2 per cent. On the NSE, the Nifty50 hit an intra-day high of 14,875 but dropped nearly 400 points to hit a low of 14,479. By close, the 50-share index was quoting at 14,558 levels, down 163 points or 1.1 per cent.

3:29 PM

Bajaj Auto amends dividend distribution policy to manage surplus funds

Bajaj Auto has amended its dividend distribution policy to reward shareholders and boost return ratios. The policy will consider the surplus the company has when calculating the dividend payout as a percentage of profits after tax, the Pune-based firm said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday. READ MORE

3:19 PM

Jio, Vodafone Idea make upfront payments for spectrum, says report

Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea have paid Rs 15,019.84 crore and Rs 574.65 crore upfront to the telecom department for the spectrum bought in a government-held auction, the Economic Times reported Thursday.

 

Bharti Airtel's payment is awaited. The government sold airwaves worth Rs 77,814 crore in 4G spectrum auction that ended on March 2. READ MORE

3:12 PM

Vehicle scrapping policy will be 'win-win'; to reduce pollution: Gadkari

Making a statement regarding the vehicle scrapping policy in the Lok Sabha, the Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Minister said the policy will also lead to an increase in the country's automobile industry turnover to Rs 10 lakh crore from the current Rs 4.5 lakh crore. READ MORE

3:02 PM

Nifty IT index slips over 4% on profit booking; Infosys, HCL Tech tank 5%

Shares of information technology (IT) companies were trading up to 5 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in intra-day trade on Thursday on account of profit booking ahead of Accenture’s second-quarter fiscal year 2021 (FY21) results later today. Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. The company follows a September-August financial year. READ MORE

2:53 PM

RBI may have to delay liquidity normalisation amid rising virus cases

India's central bank may have to delay the start of monetary policy normalisation by three months amid rising COVID-19 cases, but barring the return of stringent lockdowns there is no significant threat to the economy's recovery, analysts say.

 

Having seen a peak of daily cases of nearly 100,000 in late September, infections had been on a steady decline but have now started rising again over the last month. READ MORE

2:44 PM

ITC trades higher for fourth straight day, gains 8% from Monday's low

Shares of ITC, on Thursday, were trading higher for the fourth straight day, up 3 per cent at Rs 217.30 on the BSE in intra-day trade. The stock of the cigarettes and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company gained 8 per cent from Monday’s low of Rs 201.60 on the BSE. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.32 per cent during the same period. READ MORE

2:36 PM

Sector Watch :: Metal stocks hold their mettle despite weakness in market

2:26 PM

Sensex slumps 800 pts as US Treasury yields jump 5%

2:12 PM

MARKET WINNER :: Japan overtakes Taiwan as the best performing stock market in Asia this year

>> A rally in Japanese stocks on Thursday has lifted this year’s gain on the Topix index to just over 11%, surpassing the 10.6% return from Taiwan’s equity benchmark to become the best-performing share market in Asia.

 

>> The Topix index closed above the 2,000 point level for the first time since May 1991, with automakers and lenders contributing the most to the gauge’s gains this month. The Topix has seen more than double the returns in 2021 than the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.

(Source: Bloomberg)

2:06 PM

European markets check

(Source: Reuters)

2:02 PM

Sensex tumbles 550 pts

1:59 PM

Fall from intra-day high in BSE500 stocks in today's session

COMPANY	DAY'S HIGH(RS)	DAY'S LOW(RS)	LATEST(RS)	FALL(%)
Vaibhav Global	4390.00	3900.00	3910.00	-10.93
Responsive Ind	175.80	154.80	157.50	-10.41
Blue Dart Expres	5801.00	5204.95	5263.80	-9.26
Dixon Technolog.	4588.00	4106.00	4184.90	-8.79

1:51 PM

Covid scare :: Punjab extends night curfew in nine districts amid surge in cases

As active Covid-19 cases in the state surge, with daily positivity rate climbing to over five per cent, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday extended the night curfew in nine worst hit districts by two hours daily, by advancing it from 9 p.m. onwards.

 

Also he clarified that, if required, he would go for more stringent measures to limit its spread in the days to come. READ MORE
 

1:42 PM

IPO Alert :: Nazara Tech subscribed 7.6x till 1:30 PM on Day 2 of the issue

1:42 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Mumbai Mayor on rising Covid cases

I think imposing a night curfew is necessary right now. We are also considering shifting the crowded markets to new sites. All Mumbaikars need to work together to prevent the imposition of a lockdown: Mumbai Mayor, Kishori Pednekar on rising Covid-19 cases.

(Source: TV flash)