The stock market indices closed lower for the second consecutive session on Monday (December 20). After a gap-down opening, the Nifty index continued the downward move for the day and made a low at 16,410.20 levels but during the closing hours, a further pullback was witnessed. Bank Nifty has declined more than 3 percent to settle at 34,439.80 levels
At close, the Sensex was down 1,189.73 points or 2.09 percent at 55,822.01. The broader Nifty was down 371.00 points or 2.18 percent at 16,614.20. About 621 shares have advanced, 2604 shares declined, and 97 shares are unchanged.
At the closing bell, the major gainers on the Nifty were Cipla, HUL and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. BPCL, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank and SBI were among losers.
All the sector indices were trading in red led by Nifty PSUBANK, REALTY & MEDIA sector. Stocks like CIPLA, HUL & DRREDDY were into the gaining list while BPCL, TATASTEEL, TATAMOTORS, COALINDIA were the top laggards.
Sachin Gupta, AVP, Research, Choice Broking, said "the Nifty index has slipped below the Horizontal Line and prior swing low of 16782.40 levels, which indicates a further weakness for the coming day. Moreover, the index has also moved below Middle Bollinger Band formation & 100-Days SMA, which suggest a bearish trend. A momentum indicator RSI Stochastic & MACD has traded with negative crossover. At present, the Index has support at 16450 levels while resistance comes at 16800 levels. On the other hand, Bank Nifty has support at 34000 levels while resistance at 35,000 levels."
Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities, said the Benchmark indices witnessed the biggest single day fall since April 2021. Nifty50 and Bank Nifty tanked almost 2.18 percent and 3.31 percent respectively. "All major sectors ended up in red. Realty, PSU bank and media stocks were among the worst hit stocks today. According to global cues this pressure may sustain for a few more sessions. Major reasons for today’s fall include aggressive FII selling in the past few days, Omicron fear, major global central banks indicating liquidity tightening and some year end profit booking in Indian indices. We suggest investors to be cautious in the market for some days and invest some part of their portfolio in defensive sectors. Amid the action seen today, SEBI approved IPO proposals of Ixigo, Keventer Agro and Sahajanand Medical Technologies.
Shriram Properties, out of the five IPOs that are supposed to make their debut this week, listed 23% below its IPO price.
"On technical front 16,350 and 16,900 may act as immediate support and resistance for Nifty50. For Bank Nifty 33,800 and 35,000 will act as near support and resistance."
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, "Indian markets were battered on Monday, as sell-off continued across the spectrum on weak global cues weighed down by factors such as rising Omicron cases in the west, rate hikes by several central banks in Europe and the US Fed also signaling its intent to undertake rate hikes next year to cool down inflationary concerns. The short term structure of the market is still negative, but due to the oversold situation there is a strong possibility of a meaningful pullback rally. We are of the view that today's intraday low 16,400 would act as an immediate support for the market. Above the same, a recovery-based rally could continue till 16750-17825. On the flip side, dismissal of 16,400 could possibly open another round of correction wave up to 16,320-16,250."
