Today’s Action:
Key indices limit losses to 0.7% in a volatile trading session; Broader indices underperform once again.
Daily Market Review:
Stock composites continued to reel under pressure, as investor sentiment deteriorated further in the aftermath of the PNB fraud.
The PNB mess, which took the shine off the Indian market last week, remained the talk of the town at D-Street today.
With UCO Bank disclosing an exposure of over Rs 2,600 crs in the fraud, the PSU banking stocks received a thrashing once again and spoiled investor sentiment to a large extent.
Despite a late recovery at the bourses, both the Sensex and Nifty slipped for the second straight session, ending with losses of around 0.7% each.
Broader indices had no respite and fell over 1% for the third session in a row. Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices dropped 1.1% and 1.4%, respectively.
Talking about sector indices, the Nifty PSU Bank unfolded as the top loser once again with a markdown of almost 2.5%. Market optimists did not have a place to hide, as all the sector indices were painted with the red brush.
The IND 47 index, which is a list of top 47 stocks in chart and fundamental characteristics, took a blow with a loss of 1.8%.
Losers dominated the list of 1,596 stocks that traded on NSE today with a total of 1,231. There were only 318 gainers, while 47 names remained unchanged.
Besides the PSU banking mess, persistent selling by foreign institutional investors since the beginning of this month has taken investors by surprise. As of February 16, 2018, FIIs had pulled out over Rs 9,000 crs from the Indian market.
Today’s loss on the Nifty came on higher volume as compared to Friday’s session, thereby making it a distribution day. However, the Sensex managed to escape distribution on account of lower volume.
The distribution day count now stands at five on both the Sensex and the Nifty. With both the key indices finding it hard to retake their 50-day lines, the Indian market remains in a spot of bother. The market condition stays unchanged at Uptrend Under Pressure.
Current Outlook:
– Be cautious with any new purchases
– Form a defensive game plan for your portfolio
– Stay disciplined and exercise sound sell rules
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