Indian stock market indices fell sharply on April 30 to end almost 2% lower. Benchmarks broke the four-day winning streak on the first day of May series. Investors overall lost Rs 2 lakh crore as the Sensex plunged nearly 1,000 points.
Record high Covid cases came back to haunt the market participants and weak global cues dented sentiments.
India posted a record daily rise in coronavirus cases of 386,452 on Friday,
The Sensex slipped 983 points, or 1.98%, at 48,782, and the Nifty was down 263 points, or 1.77%, at 14,631.
Heavy selling in financials & HDFC twins, kept indices in the red throughout the day. Barring Nifty Pharma, all other sectoral indices were ended in the red . Among sectors, banks, auto, IT, PSU bank and FMCG indices fell 1-2%, while the pharma index bucked the trend to rise 1%.
Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed larger peers with cut of 0.5%.
HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Asian Paints were among the laggards on the Nifty. Gainers included ONGC, Coal India, Divis Labs, Grasim, and IOC.
The indices, however, gained 2% for the week. In fact the gains continued for the second consecutive week. Nifty bank gained 3% on a weekly basis.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said: “Fed meeting outcome, monthly F&O expiry, uncertainties revolving vaccination drive and better-than-expected Q4 results buoyed market volatility during the last week.”
The Fed in its meeting sealed economic confidence by keeping its monetary policy loose and reaffirming aggressive support through bond buying. Banking and metal stocks led the weekly rally backed by a strong earnings outlook. However, banking indices gave away its weekly gain owing to heavy selloffs towards the end of the week.
“In the week ahead, along with Q4 earnings results and updates on Covid restrictions, state election results are also expected to influence the momentum. The market also awaits Manufacturing and Service PMI data for the month of April which is expected to be lower than the previous level,” added Nair.
Manish Shah, Founder, www.Niftytriggers.com
In a full fledged pandemic, Nifty remains resilient to the onslaught made by the bears. The candle on the monthly is bullish and eventually Nifty should trade above the February high of 15,430.
Nifty needs to move above the resistance at 15000-15050 points and it seems that there could be some waiting before this happens. In the interim the Nifty could remain range bound between 15050- 14500 for some time.
Last two days of decline could be a corrective action of the rally from 14200-15050 rally. Nifty should take support at 14500-14550 and move higher. We need is a push above 15050 for Nifty to move higher. It seems there could be some waiting before we see Nifty giving us that elusive breakout above 15050.
Ajit Mishra, VP – Research, Religare Broking
Markets will first react to Reliance Industries earnings and monthly auto sales numbers in early trade on Monday. Besides, participants will be eyeing the election results of 5 states on May 2. Put together, traders should prepare themselves for a volatile start. We suggest limiting leveraged positions and preferring defensives on dips.