Stock Market Today: Sensex Closes Over 1,000 Points Lower; Nifty Falls 1.30% On F&O Expiry Day

The NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex ended at the lowest level since Nov 22 as Infosys Ltd. and HDFC Bank Ltd. share prices dragged. The Indian benchmarks also witnessed steepest intraday fall in over last three weeks.

The Nifty 50 ended 360.75 points or 1.49% down at 23,914.15, and the Sensex ended 1,190.34 points or 1.48% down at 79,043.74.

Moreover sharp losses in technology stocks also pressured the Indian benchmarks. India's technology stocks were trading in red because mixed data from the US created uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's monetary policy going forward. Read more here.

The Nifty 50 declined as much as 1.65% to 23,873.35, the lowest level since Nov 4. The Sensex declined 1.64% to 78,918.92.

Broad weakness across Asia–Pacific markets also weighed on the Indian benchmark indices.

HDFC Bank Ltd. share price rose 1.31% to a record high of Rs 1,836.10 apiece within one hour of Thursday's session. The recent uptick in the stock comes as the bank continues to make strides in both its financial performance and customer outreach.

"Ultimately, the range of 24,140-24,350 is breached but unfortunately on the lower side. After a sudden fall in the opening trade, there was no sign of any reversal and the Index kept on compounding its losses and filled the bullish gap zone to end the session at 23,914.15 with a loss of 360.75 points," said Aditya Gaggar, director, Progressive Shares.

Barring PSU Banks, Media, and Realty all the other sectors settled the trade in red with IT and Auto being the major underperformers. Today's fall was limited to the Index stocks only which resulted in an outperformance by the Mid and Smallcaps segments. On the daily timeframe, Nifty50 has formed a bearish candle but it appears that it is forming a right shoulder of an Inverted Head and Shoulder pattern and a strong close above 24,350 will confirm the pattern breakout. For now, the immediate resistance and support are at 24,140 and 23,760, Gaggar said.

Infosys Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd. ICICI Bank Ltd., and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. weighed on the Nifty 50 index.

State Bank of India, Adani Enterprises Ltd., Shriram Finance Ltd., and Cipla Ltd. limited losses in the Nifty 50 index.

On NSE, nine sectors declined, two advanced, and one remained flat out of 12. The NSE Nifty IT is the worst performing sector, and the NSE Nifty PSU Bank is the best performing sector.

Broader indices outperformed. BSE Midcap ended flat and BSE Smallcap closed 0.4% up.

Four of the 21 sectoral indices on the BSE ended higher and rest fell. BSE Focused IT fell the most.

Market breadth was skewed in the favour of buyers. As many as 2,241 stocks rose, 1,702 stocks declined, and 106 remained unchanged on the BSE.

Rupee weakened by 4 paise to close at 84.49 against US Dollar. It closed at 84.45 on Wednesday, according to data on Bloomberg.

• The NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex settled at the lowest level since Nov 22.

• The Nifty 50 and Sensex witnessed the steepest fall in over three weeks.

• The NSE Nifty IT index declined 2.62% to 42,864.80 during the session. It's the worst performing sector. It ended 2.39% down at 42,968.75.

• The NSE Nifty PSU Bank was the best performing sector. It ended 0.93% higher at 6,846.85.

• The NSE Nifty Midcap 150 ended flat at 20,839.90.

• The NSE Nifty Smallcap 250 ended 0.14% higher at 17,577.85.

“Market tanks sharply on high geopolitical developments escalating news on the Russia-Ukraine war again. As per some social media reports Energy infrastructure is once again targeted by the enemy's massive strike," Ukrainian Energy Minister. Last week markets were coming out of the Lebanon ceasefire, but the closing remarks were a bit hawkish," said Prashanth Tapse, a senior vice president, research, Mehta Equities.

It's an Future & Options expiry day, and such headlines bring a lot of volatility in the market. A technical close below 23,800 would be a make-or-break level for Nifty. I expect markets to trade sideways with negative biased pressure. On the resistance side, 24,350 acts as strong resistance; any close above this can turn the market mood," Tapse said.

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