BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 ended in deep sea of red, plunging nearly 5 per cent on Thursday after Russia’s Putin ordered troops to enter Ukraine. Benchmark indices posted their second biggest fall in nearly two years, after markets crashed in 2020 on Covid induced lockdown restrictions. BSE Sensex tumbled 4.7 per cent or 2,702 points to end at 54,530, while Nifty 50 index plunged 815 points or 4.8 per cent to finish trade at 16248, on the day of monthly F&O expiry. This was seventh straight fall in the equity benchmarks. Index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) among others contributed the most to the indices’ fall. Broader markets underperformed equity benchmarks. S&P BSE Midcap index plunged 5.5 per cent ot 1,302 points to settle at 22,257, while S&P BSE Smallcap tanked 5.8 per cent or 1,555 points to finish at 25,391.

Sahaj Agrawal, Head of Research- Derivatives, Kotak Securities

Nifty has broken significant support level 16600 and witnessed significant selling pressure in line with global markets. We believe volatility will remain elevated on account of an external shock and expect the March series to witness further negative bias. Though the bias is negative, We await derivatives data to establish objective levels before taking a strong positional stance from here on. Investors can use further deep corrections to buy/average and traders to define risk in uncertain times.

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities

As per the gap theory, Thursday’s large opening downside gap could be considered as a bearish breakaway gap and this gap (around 17027-16705 levels) is unlikely to be filled soon. Hence, the immediate sharp upside recovery or V type recovery is not expected. The downside breakout of triangle pattern as per daily timeframe chart could open the potential downside pattern target of 15900 levels in the near term. The formation of consistent lower tops, repeated testing of important lower support has eventually witnessed sharp downside breakout for the Nifty. The present decline could be continued for short term and the Nifty could slide down to 15900 levels before showing minor upside bounce from the lows.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services

It was a big surprise for the world market as it was not anticipating a war. It was expecting a diplomatic meet between Biden & Putin. Markets around the globe plunged deep in red as the Ukraine crisis intensified with Russia’s invasion into Eastern Ukraine. Crude oil prices crossed $100 per barrel and elevated inflation risk.

S Ranganathan, Head of Research, LKP Securities

With Brent crude breaching the $100 mark for the first time in 7 years post the Russian military operation in Ukraine, both the benchmark Indices wilted with a 5% cut as the volatility index rose 30% today with all sectoral indices ending deeply in the red wiping out over Rs 10lac crores of investor wealth. A peep into the Advance-Decline ratio said it all as the carnage together with the volatility witnessed today was painful for both investors and traders.

Mitul Shah, Head Of Research, Reliance Securities

US equities extends sell-off as Ukraine declared a state of emergency amid intensifying fears of a full-scale Russian invasion. The Dow Jones fell 1.4%. The S&P 500 index was down1.8% while the Nasdaq dropped 2.6%. The 10-year Treasury yield rose 3 basis points to 1.98%. The geopolitical pot is boiling. If that is no enough, the Fed’s aggressive tone on rate hike is keeping market participants on the edge. The LIC’s upcoming IPO is India’s biggest ever public listing and it continues to make waves. As the ball gets rolling with mega roadshows to connect with top-notch investors, the IDBI Bank stake sale comes up next on the Centre’s check list. As the economy looks to get on to the running track, the ongoing disinvestment process will for sure come as a shot in the arm for the government.