NIFTY opened flat at 17,160. After a small up-move initially, it started falling till 17,040 levels. Then, a huge recovery till the day’s high was seen. In the second half, the index fell again, tested 17,000 round level support, and finally traded sideways to close the day at 17,043, down by 111 points or 0.65%. 

BANK NIFTY started the day at 39,522 with a gap-down of 42 points. The index was very volatile throughout the day. After making a high of 39,962, BNF fell 600 points, recovered 550 points, and fell down again in the second half. It finally traded sideways to close at 39,411, down by 153 pts or 0.39%.

NIFTY PSU Bank (-1.9%), NIFTY IT (-1.6%), and NIFTY Metal (-1.2%) fell the most. NIFTY Media (+0.16%) and NIFTY Pharma (+0.01%) were the only indices that closed in the green.

Major Asian markets closed deep in the red. The UK markets are currently trading in red, while German and French markets are in the green.

Today’s Moves

BPCL (+1.1%) was NIFTY50’s top gainer.

Sona BLW (+6.2%) surged higher after reports stated that foreign investors, mutual funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies were buyers of Blackstone's 20.5% stake in the company.

IT stocks fell heavily today. HCL Tech, LTTS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Persistent, MPhasis & Coforge closed 1.2-4.5% lower.

Adani Enterprises (-7.7%) was NIFTY50’s top loser. The stocks of other Adani Group companies Adani Ports (-3.9%), Adani Wilmar (-4.9%), Ambuja Cement (-3.9%), and Adani Power (-5%) also crashed.

PNB Housing Finance (-10.7%) said it has received SEBI’s approval to raise up to Rs 2,500 crore through the rights issue of shares.

Markets Ahead

NIFTY is at a crucial psychological support of 17,000 round level. If this level is getting breached, we could see the index falling to 16750 levels this week!

Bank Nifty is on a trendline if you’re connecting today’s low. If that trendline is breached and today’s low also gets breached, we can expect the gap to be filled near 38,700.

India’s retail inflation fell to 6.44% in Feb 2023, but it’s still above RBI’s upper band limit of 6%.

US inflation data for February will be announced today. If the numbers are good, it might create volatility in the U.S. market. Because there are two scenarios- the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue rate hikes and also inflation may cool down towards the year end. 

It is very important to watch how the U.S. market will react to the numbers!