The Indian equity benchmarks fell for fifth session in a row on Tuesday mirroring losses in global markets after geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated. The Sensex fell as much as 1,289 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 16,843. However, buying at lower levels in index heavyweights like Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC and Bajaj Finserv helped benchmarks most of intraday losses.
The Sensex fell 383 points to close at 57,301 and Nifty 50 index dropped 114 points or 0.67 per cent to close at 17,092.
A long-feared Russian invasion of Ukraine appeared to be imminent Monday, if not already underway, with Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering forces into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.
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Russia set the stage for a quick move to secure its hold on Ukraine’s rebel regions on Tuesday with new legislation that would allow the deployment of troops there as the West prepares to announce sanctions against Moscow amid fears of a full-scale invasion.
"The market is witnessed a sharp cut in early trade of Tuesday's trading session on the back of intense geopolitical tension. We are in monthly F&O expiry week therefore we could see a surge in volatility whereas March is going to be a very volatile month due to lots of events like geopolitical uncertainty, results of state elections, US Fed meeting, etc. The overall trend is bullish but we may have high volatility over the next month therefore short-term traders should remain light while long-term investors should look at this correction as a buying opportunity," said Parth Nyati, founder at Tradingo.
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Selling pressure was broad-based as all the 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Media index's over 3 per cent decline. Nifty IT, PSU Bank, FMCG, Metal, Realty and bank indices also fell between 1-3 per cent.
Broader markets also succumbed to selling pressure as Nifty Midcap index dropped 1 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 2 per cent.
Shares of oil exploration companies ONGC and Oil India limited jumped as much as 2 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 166.50 and Rs 224 respectively as crude oil prices shot up internationally amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Given the surge in crude oil prices, fertiliser and oil marketing companies shares came under selling pressure as their profitability is highly impacted by rising crude prices.
Shares in Chambal Fertilisers, Coromandel International, GNFC, Tata Chemicals, Rashtriya Chemicals, NFL, Deepak Fertilisers, Mangalore Chemical and SPIC fell between 2-5 per cent.
Tata Steel was top Nifty loser, the stock dropped 4 per cent to close at Rs 1,134. Bharat Petroleum, Tata Consultancy Services, SBI LIfe, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bharti Airte, Indian Oil, HDFC, Life, ITC and Wipro also fell between 1.5-3 per cent.
On the flipside, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Hero MotoCorp, Eicher Motors, Hindalco, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC were among the gainers.
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The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,665 shares ended lower while 691 closed higher on the BSE.
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