Share market today: Domestic equity benchmark indices, the Sensex and the Nifty 50, extended morning losses and dropped over 1 percent on Thursday's session as concerns over the general elections persisted. On the weekly Nifty options expiry that is scheduled for today, there was further volatility in the headline indices.
The 30-share BSE Sensex ended lower by 1,062.22 points or 1.45% at 72,404.17 level while the Nifty 50 closed at 21,957.50 level, down 345 points or 1.55%. The broader market under performed the benchmark indices. The Nifty Small Cap 100 ended 2.83% lower and the Nifty Midcap 100 closed 1.85% lower.
The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms dropped to nearly ₹393.34 lakh crore from ₹400.69 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors lose nearly ₹7.35 lakh crore in a single session.
With the Nifty 50 and Sensex hitting their lowest point in the past three weeks, market analysts predict that the major Indian indices will continue losing momentum. One of the main causes of the market's decline is the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the general elections.Investor morale has also been significantly depressed by the subdued signals from large-cap companies' Q4 results.
The level of uncertainty has contributed considerably to the India VIX, a measure of volatility, which reached a 52-week high of 19, indicating fear within the market.
In light of a Bank of England rate decision and following a string of positive weeks, global markets took a well-earned break on Thursday, according to a report by Reuters. Meanwhile, Japanese officials raised their discussion of intervention as the yen continued to decline.
The Nikkei in Japan gave up previous gains and was down 0.2%. The resource-heavy Australian share market fell 1.1%, while South Korea also retreated 1%.
As many as 7 stocks settled in the green in the Nifty 50 index while the rest 43 ended in red.
Shares of Hero MotoCorp Ltd (up 3.19%), Tata Motors Ltd (up 1.77%), Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (up 1.52%), State Bank of India (up 1.13%), and Bajaj Auto Ltd (up 1.04%) ended as top gainers.
On the other side, Larsen & Toubro Ltd (down 5.65%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (down 4.52%), Asian Paints Ltd (down 4.48%), Coal India Ltd (down 4.40%), and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (down 3.85%) were among the laggards.
Amongst sectoral indices, expect Nifty Auto, which closed 0.78% higher; others—Nifty Bank (up 1.11%), Nifty IT (down 0.39%), Nifty Media (down 1.79%), Nifty Financial Services (down 1.56%), Nifty Realty (down 2.23%), Nifty FMCG (down 2.47%), and Nifty Oil & Gas (down 3.15%)—ended in red.
The broader market saw volatility, highlighting caution due to Q4 earnings and general election worries, which caused investors to remain on the sidelines, according to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
"We expect the trend to continue in the short term as the market slid below the physiological level of 22,000. The global indices are trading with mixed cues ahead of the BOE policy meeting later today and US inflation figures due next week," said Nair.
Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities, said that when the index broke below 22,200, where considerable Put writing had been evident, bears were still in control. Because purchasers did not buy the dips on the day of mayhem, the index continued to break the supports. There is a chance that the trend will weaken much more in the near future. On the higher end, 22,200 appears to be the immediate barrier; the market may continue to rise and sell until it stays below 22,200.
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