NIFTY opened the day almost flat (small gap-up of 17 pts) at 17,772 and was on a steady fall since morning. After falling to 17,700, the index had a retracement and continued to fall in the second half to close the day at 17,589, down by 164 points or 0.93%. 

BANK NIFTY started the day at 41,532 with a gap-down of 44 pts. Compared to NIFTY, BANK NIFTY was not that weak. After some initial consolidation, it started moving up to cross the day’s high. After 12 PM, Bank Nifty also started falling throughout to close at 41,256, down by 320 pts or 0.77%.

All indices except NIFTY Metal (+0.06%) closed in the red today. NIFTY Auto (-1.8%), NIFTY Realty (-1.1%), NIFTY PSU Bank (-1.1%), NIFTY IT (-1.08%) and NIFTY FMCG (-1%) fell the most.

Major Asian markets closed mixed. European markets are currently trading in the red.

Today’s Moves

Tata Steel (+1.6%) was Nifty50's top gainer. Brokerage firm Jefferies has highlighted Tata Steel as a top pick among Indian metal stocks.

Automobile stocks like Tata Motors, TVS Motors, Maruti, Eicher Motor, and M&M closed 1.5-3.5% in the red.

Olectra Greentech (+19.93%) continued its rally after securing a large order for 550 e-buses from TSRTC.

Adani Enterprises (-4.24%) was NIFTY50’s top loser. As per an NSE circular, Adani Ent, Adani Power (+4.9%), and Adani Wilmar (+2.59%) have been included under the short-term additional surveillance mechanism framework from Thursday.

NIFTY heavyweights Reliance (-2.4%), ICICI Bank (-1.85%) and TCS (-1.7%) dragged down the markets.

Shares of Home First Finance Company India Ltd. (-7.79%) fell after over 73 lakh shares exchanged hands in a block trade.

Markets Ahead

Nifty is at a good support zone of 17,550, and if tomorrow it starts breaching this zone and today’s low as well, we could see it going further down to 17,400.

Bank Nifty is also at the very important support zone of 41,200, and if today’s low is getting breached on the downside, we could it moving further down to even 40,600 levels.

Payroll data from the US will be released tomorrow. If they report better-than-expected job numbers and a strong economy, US Fed may raise rates by 50 basis points (bps) in the March 22 meeting. According to market experts, such a move can pull Nifty down from the 17,450-850 range.

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