NEW DELHI: Amid high volatility, equity benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty on Thursday erased most of the intraday gains and ended flat. This comes after the indices had lost nearly 2% points on Wednesday following the RBI’s surprise decision to hike repo rate by 40 bps.
At close, the Sensex was up 33.20 points at 55,702.23, and the NSE Nifty was up 5.10 points or 0.03% at 16,682.70. During early trading session, Sensex had touched a high of 56,566.80 while Nifty was up at 16,945.70.
IndusInd Bank, Tata Consumer Products, Britannia Industries, UltraTech Cement and Nestle India were among the top Nifty losers on Thursday. India’s most valuable company Reliance (RIL) also shed nearly 2% to close at Rs 2,640.75. Adani Wilmar again crashed 5% to close at Rs 680.20.
Going ahead, the market is expected to remain under pressure as a host of factors are negative - from repo rate hike to subdued Q4 corporate earnings. “Indian markets could continue to remain under pressure in the near term due to a host of reasons including monetary tightening in India and globally, geopolitical conflict, commodity inflation and supply disruption that have all led to subdued Q4 corporate results,” Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities, told TNIE. According to Jasani, in this weakness, Nifty can probably test 15,900 levels on the downside.
Nifty and Sensex have corrected nearly 12% from their 52-week high. A large number market analysts beleive that an additional 5% correction can’t be ruled out due to global factors. The US Fed has already hinted at more rate hikes in its June meet, which may not be the expected 75 bps. However, it certainly will weigh on global markets. Owing to this and other factors, foreign investors continue to cut their exposure in the Indian market and have pulled out Rs 17,144 crore.
HOST OF NEGATIVE FACTORS IN PLAY
Going ahead, the market is expected to remain under pressure as a host of factors are negative — from repo rate hike to subdued Q4 corporate earnings. Nifty and Sensex have corrected nearly 12% from their 52-week high