Indian markets witnessed continued selling pressure in line with weak global cues. Markets reacted negatively to the surprise rate hike by Bank of England, even as US Fed had maintained status quo few days earlier. Nifty plunged below 17000 levels while Sensex fell to around 57,000 levels. The indices ended the day with losses of 1.5%. Broader market too mirrored the fall and under-performed with both nifty midcap 100 and smallcap 100 down 2.6% each. Among sectors, except for IT, all other indices ended in red with media, PSU Bank and Realty down between 3-4%.
At the close, the benchmark 30-share index, BSE Sensex tumbled 889.40 points or 1.54% at 57,011.74. Meanwhile, the broad based NSE Nifty traded lower by 263.20 points or 1.53% at 16,985.20.
Biggest gainers in the 30-share index were Infosys (2.84%), HCL Technologies (0.96%), Power Grid Corporation of India (0.82%), Sun Pharma (0.61%) and TCS (0.16%).
On the other hand, IndusInd Bank (4.89%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (3.55%), Hindustan Unilever (3.43%), Titan (3.25%), HDFC (3.08%), Bajaj Finserv (3.03%), Axis Bank (2.93%), State Bank of India (2.80%) and Reliance Industries (2.63%) were the major losers in the Sensex. Market breadth was negative with 983 advances against 2,353 declines.
IT stocks were in limelight after Accenture reported strong quarterly numbers and upgraded its guidance.
Globally, markets saw sell off as central banks globally are tightening their monetary policy and uncertainties over the impact of fast-spreading Omicron variant likely to hit economies. Geopolitical tensions between China and the U.S. flared again, thus adding negative market sentiments. Oil prices too weaken as surging cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant raise concerns new restrictions may hit oil demand.
"Overall market remains in a tight range with bearish undertone as selling pressure is intact at higher levels. Negative global cues, continued FII selling, absence of any positive trigger and increasing cases of Omicron is likely to continue putting pressure on the market. Thus, traders are advised to maintain their negative bias in the market for next few days, stated Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Nish Bhatt, Founder & CEO, Millwood Kane International on BoE & ECB monetary policy outcome said, "The end of easy money or Quantitative Easing is near as the Bank of England - one of the major central banks among G7 countries decided to hike rates. The move was unexpected, but commendable given the BoE is paying heed to the rising inflation whose last print stood at a decade high (over 5%) and as per BoE's forecast, it may rise to 6% by April 2022. Keeping inflation in check is imperative given that the country is already facing the threat of a major spread of the Omicron variant of COVID19. Central banks need to stay ahead of the curve, take unpopular decisions to balance growth and risk that is required during such times."
"The ECB deciding to keep rates unchanged is on expected lines, but it provided a glide path to end its QE program. This reflects its confidence in the underlying strength of the economic recovery of the bloc," he added.
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