Sensex, Nifty Fall For Third Session In A Row Dragged By HDFC Group Shares

The Indian equity benchmarks fell for third session in a row on Monday owing to heavy selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) amid rising US bond yields and crude oil prices, analysts said. The Sensex fell as much as 1,345 points and Nifty 50 index briefly fell below its important psychological level of 17,200. HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the top drags on the Sensex.

The Sensex ended 1,024 points or 1.75 per cent lower at 57,621 and Nifty 50 index dropped 303 points or 1.73 per cent to close at 17,214.

"Indian market witnessed a sharp cut in today's trading session and this weakness can be attributed to heavy selling by FIIs amid rising US bond yields and crude oil prices. If we look at the profile of the stocks then there is a sharp cut in FIIs' favourite names and heavyweights like HDFC twins, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Kotak Bank, Reliance, etc therefore we can expect large FIIs' selling figure in today's trading session however there is good buying in PSU banks, metal stocks and sugar stocks where earnings were strong," said Santosh Meena, head of research at Swastika Investmart. 

"Technically, Nifty has slipped below its 50-DMA which is not a good sign however 17,200 is a support level where we can expect some recovery otherwise selling pressure may get momentum towards 17,000-16,800 levels. On the upside, 17,450-17,500 will act as a strong resistance now," Meena added.

Selling pressure was broad-based as all the 15 sector gauges, barring the index of PSU Banking shares, ended lower led by Nifty Financial Services index's 2.6 per cent fall. Nifty Private Bank, Healthcare, Bank, Consumer Durables, Pharma, Media FMCG, IT and Auto indices also fell between 1.2-2.3 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares also faced selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices fell over 1 per cent each.

Among the individual shares, State Bank of India jumped nearly 2 per cent to Rs 540 after its net proft jumped 62 per cent to Rs 8,432 crore in December quarter. Its net interest income or the difference between interest earned on loans and interest expended on deposits advanced 6.5 per cent to Rs 30,687 crore versus Rs 28,820 crore in the year ago period.

Bank of Baroda climbed 10 per cent to Rs 115 after it reported doubling of its net profit to Rs 2,197 crore on a standalone basis in the quarter ended in December 2021. The lender had posted a net profit of Rs 1,061 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

Shares of the country's leading steel maker - Tata Steel - rose as much as 3.26 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 1,214.45 after its net profit in December quarter rose 79 per cent to Rs 7,683 crore versus Rs 4,285 crore in the same quarter last financial year. Its revenue from operations jumped 37 per cent to Rs 31,623 crore from Rs 22,870 crore in the year ago period.

Tata Consumer Products was top Nifty loser, the stock fell nearly 4 per cent to Rs 705. Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank, Britannia Industries, HDFC, Hero MotoCorp, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finserv and Titan also fell between 2.7-3.5 per cent.

On the flipside, Power Grid, ONGC, NTPC, Shree Cements, Coal India and UltraTech Cement were among the notable gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,101 shares ended lower while 1,407 closed higher on the BSE.