MUMBAI: Indian stock markets traded lower on Thursday, impacted by the continued selling pressure. After the end of the trade, the Nifty closed at 23,349.90, lower 168.60 points and BSE Sensex ended at 77,155.79, down 422.59 points.
On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the stocks of Powergrid, UltraTech Cement, Hindalco, Apollo Hospitals, and Grasim Industries remained the major gainers, while Adani group shares were in pressure because allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green.
The Adani Group has denied the allegations. Shares of Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, SBI Life Insurance, State Bank of India, and NTPC were the biggest losers during the trade. The sectoral indices at the NSE traded in the red except for IT, private banks, and realty during today’s trade.
“Nifty broke its immediate support at 23,350 levels and made a low of 23,263, indicating the continuing weakness. The momentum indicators on the weekly chart continue to show weakness in the index. The index recovered almost 100 points from its day’s low, which may be indicating another dead cat bounce. Any bounce becomes an opportunity to sell the index”, said Praveen Dwarakanath, vice-president of Hedged.in.
Experts noted that Indian markets will remain soft in the near term. However, the markets may witness some changes next week after the announcement of the state election results on Saturday.
Ajay Bagga, Banking and Market expert, the escalation of tensions in the Ukraine-Russia war can weigh on markets.
“Nvidia results, Ukraine firing long range missiles and the Adani charges in a US court are dominating markets today…The escalation of tensions in the Ukraine-Russia war can weigh on markets”.
The element of uncertainty caused by the escalations is high, and therefore most market participants are likely to be in a wait-and-watch mode”, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services. He added that any sharp slide in the market appears unlikely since the mother market, the US, has largely downplayed the escalation. (ANI)