The BSE Sensex opened nearly 320 points lower at 59,902.25, while the NSE Nifty was down 84 points at 17,627.30.
On the BSE, 24 of the 30 companies in the Sensex traded in the red in early trade.
Domestic stock markets opened in the red on Wednesday. The BSE Sensex opened nearly 320 points lower at 59,902.25, while the NSE Nifty was down 84 points at 17,627.30. The rupee also fell by 37 paise to 82.29 against the US dollar in early trade.
On the BSE, 24 of the 30 companies in the Sensex traded in the red in early trade. Top losers included Infosys (down 1.36 percent), Tech Mahindra (minus 1.34 percent), Bajaj Finserv (down 1.25 percent), Sun Pharma (down 1.09 percent) and HCL Tech (down 1.05 percent decreased).
On the BSE, L&T, NTPC, Tata Steel, Maruti, UltraTech Cement and HDFC Bank were in the green, trading 0.52 percent higher.
V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “This year, the main trigger that pushed global stock markets up or down has been economic data from the US mother market. These data were not consistent, so markets were volatile in responding to alternating bouts of positive and negative news. Inflation trends pushed markets higher, while data showing a strong economy and tight labor market pushed markets lower. This sawing motion is likely to persist for some time to come.”
He added that the latest negative factor from the market’s perspective is Fed Chair Powell’s comments that “the final level of interest rates may be higher than previously expected.” As such, markets will expect a 50bps rate hike at the Fed’s next meeting on March 21-22. In the near term, investors may adopt a twin strategy of selecting attractive fixed income returns with complementary investable funds while continuing to buy high-quality stocks amid market weakness.
Regarding the rupee, Mehta Equities Vice-President (Commodities) Rahul Kalantri said, “The March 28 USDINR futures contract was highly volatile and hit the low of the day. According to the daily technical chart, we have noticed that the pair is trading below the 82.55 trend line support and the MACD is showing a negative divergence. Looking at the technical setup, the RSI is falling below 50, but the pair is in oversold territory… We recommend buying the pair above 82.05 with a stop loss of 81.70 for a target of 82.35- 82.55.
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