In line with the weak market trend, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms tumbled by ₹6,71,051.73 crore to stand at ₹2,49,06,394.08 crore.
All major nifty sub-indexes fell, with the Nifty IT index leading losses, down 5.74%. JP Morgan analysts said on Thursday surging inflation, supply-chain issues and the hit from the Ukraine war will bring an end to the growth boom that India's IT services industry enjoyed during the pandemic. Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) plunged between 5% and 6%.
On the other hand, ITC rose 3.3% and was one of the three gainers on the Nifty, after the cigarettes-to-hotel conglomerate late on Wednesday reported a jump in March-quarter profit.
“Growth momentum in the global economy is slowing down due to liquidity tightening by Central Banks. Russia – Ukraine conflict is also not showing any signs of easing, which will keep Energy and Food prices high. Both these variables point to a stagflation kind of scenario globally, which can lead to discretionary spending going down. This is fueling greater volatility in global equity markets, including in India," said Naveen Kulkarni, Chief Investment Officer, Axis Securities.
“We expect markets to remain volatile in the near term but expect better market conditions in the second half of the financial year once markets price in the impact of global slowdown and higher rates," he added.
Nifty Technical Outlook
Subash Gangadharan, Senior Technical and Derivative Analyst, HDFC Securities, says: “Zooming into 15 minute chart, we see that Nifty has reversed the recent pullback rally and has now closed near the recent lows of 15735. The 20 period MA on the 15 min chart is now below the 50 period MA indicating a negative moving average crossover. A fresh down move is likely once the support of 15735 is broken."
“While we remain open to pullback rallies in the very near term, we expect the downtrend to continue. The bears would gain more control once the recent intermediate low of 15735 is broken," he said.
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said as long as the Nifty is trading below 15900, the correction wave is likely to continue and below the same it could retest the level of 15700. "On the further down side, the index could slip to 15600. On the flip side, above 15900, the Nifty could move up to 16000-16100 levels," he added.
