Erasing all the gains, Sensex and Nifty settled lower for the seventh straight day on Monday after two fresh cases of coronavirus were confirmed in India, one in Delhi and another in Telangana. S&P BSE Sensex settled 153 points or 0.40 per cent lower at 38,144 points while the broader Nifty 50 index, slipped below 11,150 mark, to settle at 11,132, down 69 points or 0.62 per cent. Index heavyweights such as SBI, RIL, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the major contributors towards today’s fall. “The domestic sentiment was buoyed with data indicating that the output of eight core sectors of the economy managed to rise for a second straight month in January, growing by 2.2% as key sectors like refinery products and electricity continued to see slow growth. However, optimism was short lived with selling resumed as trading session entered in its last hour of trade,” Narendra Solanki, AVP- Equity Research, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers said.

What dragged Sensex 939 points from day’s high-

Coronavirus cases- The Ministry of Health informed that two positive cases of coronavirus have been detected, one in New Delhi, and another in Telangana. Both the patients are stable and being closely monitored, it added. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that passengers from 12 countries are being screened at 21 airports and 12 major and 35 minor seaports.

SBI top Sensex loser- As many as 20 stocks out of 30 Sensex closed in red. SBI was the top loser, down 5.10 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj-Auto and ONGC. While, HCL Tech was the top Sensex gainer, up 2.36 per cent. Nestle India, ICICI Bank, Infosys were among the top gainers on the index.

Nifty IT index only sectoral gainer- Except Nifty IT index, all the sectoral indices ended in red today. Nifty Media and Nifty PSU Bank index were the top losers, down 4.5 per cent each. While Nifty IT index gained 1.41 per cent driven by Tata Elxsi, NIIT Tech and Mind Tree.

SBI Cards IPO- SBI Cards and Payment Services IPO opened for bidding from today. It has subscribed 34 per cent so far. The price band of the initial public offer (IPO) of SBI Cards and Payment Services has been fixed at Rs 750-755 per share. The lot size has been fixed at 19 equity shares and in multiples thereafter. The bidding process will close on March 5, 2020.

Technical Observation-“The Nifty witnessed high volatility in today’s session within a wild high low range movement of around 300 points. The Nifty finally closed the day lower by around 69 points. A long bear candle was formed today, that has engulfed the negative candle of the last session. The Nifty made a new swing low of 11036 levels in today’s session. Today’s formation of long bear candle around the crucial lower support of 11K mark could indicate that a bottom formation in the Nifty could be due,” says Nagaraj Shetti – Technical Analyst, HDFC securities.

10700 next support level for Nifty- ” Tomorrow would be important day post today’s panic sell-off because generally market tries to bounce back after a panic sell-off where FIIs net long position in F&O market at historic low which may cause a short-covering rally but there is a need for smart pullback in global market otherwise psychological level of 11000 is under threat where 10700 would be the next important support level. In the upside 11450/11700 are important resistance levels,” Santosh Meena, Senior Analyst, TradingBells said.