Share Market Today: Sensex slips 208 points, Nifty ends below 18,650-mark weighed by IT stocks

Additionally, market participants turned cautious ahead of the outcome of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy decision due on Wednesday.

The S&P BSE Sensex slipped 208.24 points (0.33 per cent) to end at 62,626.36 while the Nifty 50 dropped 58.30 points (0.31 per cent) to settle at 18,642.75. Earlier in the day, the Sensex had crashed 444.53 points (0.71 per cent) to 62,390.07 while the broader Nifty 50 had declined 123.15 points (0.66 per cent) to 18,577.90 during the intraday session.

On the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Infosys, State Bank of India (SBI), Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies were the top losers on Tuesday. In contrast, Hinduatan Unilever (HUL), UltraTech Cement, Power Grid Corporation of India, Nestle India, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance were the top gainers.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty IT index fell 1.45 per cent, Nifty Media slipped 1.02 per cent and Nifty Metal and Nifty Pharma indices declined 0.75 per cent each.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index fell 140.79 points (0.53 per cent) to close at 26,208.31 while the S&P BSE SmallCap declined 96.46 points (0.32 per cent) to end at 29,889.84.

“Weak sentiment prevailed through the session as investors offloaded shares in rate-sensitives such as banking, automobile and realty stocks on the eve of RBI’s credit policy announcement. In the past we have seen investors turning cautious ahead of a key event and booking some profit to avoid getting caught off guard. If the rate hike is above the street expectations, investors may press the panic button, which could accelerate the selling pressure. The currency market too witnessed hectic activity as rupee breached 82 mark, fueling concerns of overseas investors cutting their positions in local equities. Currently, the market is trading near the 10-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) indicating strong possibility of a trend reversal in the near future. For traders, 18,700 would be the key level to watch out, as above the same we could see a fresh uptrend rally till 18,800-18,850. On the flip side, a fresh round of selling pressure is possible only after the dismissal of 18,600, and below the same the index could slip till 18,500-18,480,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail) at Kotak Securities.

Global Market (from Reuters)

Global stocks headed for a third straight day of losses on Tuesday and the dollar rose after more US data reinforced the belief among investors that the Federal Reserve might stick longer with aggressive interest rate rises.

MSCI’s world index fell 0.3 per cent, led by tech stocks which are often more sensitive to broader shifts in sentiment.

Europe’s STOXX tech sub index lost 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong listed tech giants fell 1.8 per cent and Korea’s tech-heavy KOSPI benchmark shed 1 per cent.