Sensex Today: The market continued to witness a sell-off on March 10 as the equity benchmarks lost another 1 percent in the second consecutive session amid growing concern over an aggressive rate hike by the US Fed going ahead. The S&P BSE Sensex crashed 671 points, or 1.12 per cent, to close at 59,135. The Nifty50, meanwhile, gave up the 17,450-mark to end at 17,413, falling 177 points or 1 per cent. These indices hit intra-day lows of 58,885, and 17,324, respectively.
Financial stocks were the worst hit today, amid near broad-based selling, with HDFC Bank (down 2.6 per cent), HDFC, SBI, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, and Bajaj Finance featuring among the top 15 laggards on the Sensex. Index-wise, the Nifty PSU Bank index declined 2.2 per cent, while the Nifty Bank and Private Bank indices fell 1.8 per cent each.
Other large-cap laggards were RIL, L&T, M&M, and Asian Paints, down up to 1.5 per cent.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices dropped less than 1 per cent each.
Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “The sell-off in US markets yesterday was triggered by a crash of 60 per cent in SVB Financials- a bank that mainly funds start ups. This impacted sentiments and banking stocks took a beating on concerns that rising interest rates might trigger loan repayment defaults. This is a US-specific issue and will not have an impact on Indian banking stocks. But the sentiment impact can be negative. Today’s US jobs report will be crucial in influencing the Fed’s policy response and the market direction. If the jobs data show declining jobs growth, the Fed will not be as aggressive as the market fears and equity markets will remain resilient. So investors may wait for this near-term uncertainty to pass. However, sharp corrections, particularly in banks, may be used to buy the leading names in private sector banks.”
Global Cues
Globally, investors will watch out key payroll data on Friday that could shape interest rate trajectory. Overnight, the US markets were hammered, with Dow Jones, NASDAQ Composite, and the S&P 500 indices declining up to 2 per cent.
The Wall Street sell-off spread to markets in Asia-Pacific too this morning, as Nikkei 225, Topix, the S&P 200 indices lost over 1 per cent each.
In the commodities market, prices of Brent Crude and WTI Crude were flat after a two-day decline at $81 per barrel, and $75 per barrel, respectively.
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