The headline indices Sensex and Nifty snapped their three-day winning streak to end lower on Wednesday afternoon on the back of viscous sell-off in in metals, energy, banking and auto stocks amid rising concerns of an impending global recession. The Sensex closed 189.43 points, or 0.50% down at 37,451.84, while the Nifty closed 60 points down at 11,046.10. Intra-day, the Sensex moved to a high of 37,687.82 and a low of 37,249.19. The broader NSE Nifty fell 59.25 points, or 0.53% to 11,046.10. During the day, the Nifty hit a high of 11,129.65 and touched a low of 10,987.65.
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Private sector lender Yes Bank was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, closing 7.5% down, after global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the lender’s long-term foreign-currency issuer rating to Ba3, terming the bank’s outlook as negative. Yes Bank, Vedanta, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, ONGC, M&M, Maruti Suzuki , NTPC and HUL were the biggest Sensex losers, shedding between 2-7.5 per cent. On the other hand, HCL Tech (2.6%), Infosys (2.18%), Tech Mahindra (2.1%), HDFC (0.5%), TCS (0.18%) and Asian Paints (0.13%) were the biggest gainers.
Taking stock of the volatile session, Sahaj Agarwal, Head of Derivatives, Kotak Securities said that Nifty has been consolidating in the range of 10,700-11,200 since the past few weeks. According to the expert, 11,200 acts as a very strong resistance and crossing the same is critical for the index to resume its uptrend. “On the downside breach of 10800 is expected to infuse further selling pressure. Long aggression is advisable only above 11,200 else we expect selling pressure to push the markets lower. IT stocks and select private banks remain strong while weakness continues in the midcap space,” Agarwal said.
According to Ajit Mishra Vice President, Research, Religare Broking the markets witnessed profit booking at higher levels today. Further, the recent announcement made by the finance minister and the outcome of RBI board meet are definitely positive for the Indian markets. “This is likely to lift domestic sentiments in the near term. Going forward, the market participants would keep a close watch on currency movement and upcoming Q1FY20 GDP data. Globally, trade tensions between US-China is likely to induce volatility into the Indian markets,” he said. Meanwhile, the Indian rupee slumped 27 paise to 71.75 against the US dollar intra-day.