What Happened With Market Today

Equity benchmark Sensex plummeted nearly 1,688 points to three month low, tracking a massive selloff in global markets as concerns over a new COVID-19 variant spooked investors across the world. Indian equity market hived off over 6 lakh cr market cap in just a single day on account of broad base selling in the market. Sensex nosedived 1688 points (3%) to close at 57107 and Nifty slipped 510 points or down 3% to close just above 17 k at 17026. Auto, metal, tech, cement, travel, entertainment, and oil & gas stocks were major losers today while only pharma stocks recorded a smart rally. NSE 500 stocks advance declined ratio at 1:7. India Vix nosedive 25% to close at 21, most in 19-month.

Sentiment has been dampened on account of a sharp decline in the global market. US Dow Future slipped over 700 points (2.2%), European and Asian markets fell 2-4% today after the news that the new potentially highly contagious variant of COVID was detected in South Africa. Scientists warn it could be more infectious than Delta and more resistant to vaccines, potentially dealing a heavy blow to the global recovery. Moreover, the concern of rising global inflation continued FIIs selling, and the expectation of US Fed may hike interest rate had a negative impact on the market. FIIs were net sellers over Rs25000cr during the month of November.

Among the major Index, Nifty Auto Index slipped 5%, Nifty realty and metal index slipped 6% each, Nifty IT, FMCG, and energy Index shed 2% each. Nifty mid-cap and small-cap index declined 2% and 3% respectively. Bank Nifty shed nearly 4%. Pharma stocks were the only major gainers today and the Nifty pharma index surged by 2%.

Pharma stocks recorded smart gains despite Nifty slipping 3% on the expectation that rising covid cases would improve the global demand for medicines. India is one of the global hubs in pharmaceutical products. Cipla climbed up by 7% to close at Rs967. Alkem Labs surged 7% to close at Rs3563. Pfizer, Dr Reddy, Divi’s Lab, Cadila, Lupin, and Torrent Pharma gained 2-4%

Metal stocks slipped on account of a sharp decline in metal prices on LME. National Aluminum nosedived 9% to close at Rs88. JSW Steel declined 8% to close at Rs629. Jindal Steel, Hindalco, Tata Steel, NMDC declined 4-7%. Oil & gas major ONGC slipped 5% to close at Rs147. Futures in New York tumbled below $75 a barrel and benchmark Brent fell over 4% to below $79/bbl as oil was swept up in a wave of caution across global markets.

Airlines, Entertainment and Hotel stocks witnessed profit booking on the concern of rising coronavirus cases globally. InterGlobe Aviation fell nearly 12% to close at Rs188. Shares of Indian Hotels declined nearly 12% to close at Rs182. Entertainment major, PVR has slipped by 11% to close at Rs11391. Realty stocks like DLF, Oberoi Realty, Sobha, Godrej Properties, Prestige Estate declined 4-8%.

Technical Outlook:

The Nifty index opened gap down then witnessed sharp and sustained selling pressure throughout the day. Bears had a complete grip over the market and during the day, it breached psychological 17000 zones. Selling pressure was seen in the index at all levels and it closed near its lowest levels of the last 60 sessions with losses of around 500 points. It formed a Bearish candle on a daily as well as on a weekly scale by breaking key support zones which doesn’t bode well for the market. Now till it holds below 17350 zones bounce could be sold and weakness may persist towards 16800 and 16500 zones whereas medium-term hurdles can be seen at 17500 zones.

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