Sensex, Nifty close lower for 4th day on Ukraine woes; barring bank, all sectors in red

The Indian equity benchmarks ended lower for the fourth straight session on Monday amid volatile trade due to persistent concerns about Ukraine-Russia tensions and fear of aggressive policy stance by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The trade volume remained low as investors remained sidelined ahead of the upcoming U.S. Fed meeting and state assembly election results, while uncertainty in the global markets also prompted traders to shift focus to safe-haven assets such as gold, bonds.

Continuing losses for the fourth session, the BSE Sensex closed 149 points, or 0.26%, lower at 57,683, and the NSE Nifty dropped 69 points, or 0.4%, to 17,206.

Meanwhile, the broader markets witnessed a surge in selling activities, with the S&P BSE Midcap and Smallcap index falling 0.8% and 2.2%, respectively.

The overall market breadth on the BSE was negative, with 2,888 shares falling out of a total of 3,880 traded stocks. Only 830 shares advanced and 162 were unchanged.

“Domestic indices started weak taking cues from negative global peers but in between recouped most of its losses on reports of a likely meeting between Biden and Putin over the Ukraine issue. However, the market could not stretch the direction and turned negative as uncertainty in the global markets continued. Investors stood sidelined impacting volumes. The market is expected to be volatile due to the upcoming Fed meeting and state election results,” says Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

According to an analyst at TrustPlutus Wealth, the markets are weighed down by various factors this week – monthly F&O settlement, geopolitical tensions, ongoing domestic elections, negative FII flows, and so on.

“The results for Q3 have been good, but clearly there are cost pressures across companies due to inflation. We are now coming off a very strong growth cycle, and it is important that this growth momentum continues to support valuations. In the near term there is the overhang of LIC IPO, which will absorb ₹50,000 crore plus in March. The markets are also nervous about the Russia-Ukraine situation. On the positive side, a USA-Iran deal could cause oil to cool off, and provide much needed respite to inflation. All in all, it promises to be a volatile week,” says Vineet Bagri, Managing Partner- TrustPlutus Wealth.

Oil&Gas, metal space lead fall, bank stocks rise

On the sectoral front, all indices closed in negative terrain, except banks, while oil and gas and metal indices declined the most.

The BSE Oil & Gas index ended 2.18% lower, led by Adani Total Gas, GAIL (India), Oil And Natural Gas Corporation, (ONGC), Petronet LNG, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL).

The oil and gas index was followed by the BSE Metal index, which ended 1.93% lower. Coal India, Hindalco Industries, Vedanta, Hindustan Zinc, and NMDC were among the top losers in the oil and gas sector.

The banking sector was the lone gainer on the sectoral front, ending 0.16% higher, supported by gains in private banks such as Federal Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Au Small Finance Bank, and Axis Bank.

Top gainers and losers

The BSE barometer Sensex witnessed muted trade today with 9 of top 30 shares closing lower. The top loser on the Sensex pack was pharma major Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, which ended 2.39% lower. The other top laggards include Tata Consultancy Services, ITC, UltraTech Cement, and Tech Mahindra, which fell up to 2%.

On the gaining side, IT major Wipro topped the chart by rising 1.45%. Some of the other notable gainers were Infosys, Power Grid Corporation of India, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank, gained up to 1%.

Asian stocks end mostly lower

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region closed mostly lower on Monday amid persistent concerns about a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.78%, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dropped 0.65%, and Thailand’s SET Composite plunged 1%. Taiwan Weighted index and South Korea’s KOSPI ended a tad lower.

Australia’s ASX 200 index ended 0.16% higher, the Straits Times Index in Singapore rose 0.22%, and Indonesia Jakarta Composite climbed 0.15%.

In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component and the Shanghai Composite ended flat.

European shares rebound on Ukraine summit optimism

In the European market, stocks opened mostly higher amid hopes of easing tensions at the Ukraine border after U.S. and Russian leaders reportedly agreed to hold a summit on the issue. Germany’s DAX trades flat in early trade, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.2%. France’s CAC index rose 0.4%, while Spain’s
IBEX 35 fell 0.1%.