Why Are Markets Falling Today? After six straight days of gains and a stage all-set for the Nifty50 to breach the 20,000 milestone for the first time in history on Friday but Infosys turned out to be the proverbial slip between the cup and the lip.
Selling in stocks was seen mostly across the board with a few sectors being spared – prominent among them being PSU Bank, Media and Realty. Nifty Smallcap 100 outperformed but the midcap index was trading in the red.
Sensex plunged over 1,000 points to slip below the 67,000 mark while Nifty cracked 1 per cent to the sub-19,800 level.
Market watcher Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said: “The sentiments in the domestic market were dampened by the weak start of the earnings season by IT bellwethers and their cautious outlook. The most significant risk for the market today is a downgrade in corporate earnings forecasts. In addition, tepid cues from global peers are causing uncertainties, with investors anticipating a possible 25 bps rate hike by the Fed in its next meeting.”
Here are some other possible reasons for the Sensex falling today:
Infosys Results
Shares of Infosys tanked 10 per cent in early deals after the IT bellwether cut its FY24 outlook to 1-3.5 per cent in constant currency from 4-7 per cent it had guided in the previous quarter. The company, thereby, invited a slew of downgrades by various brokerages as they see the company underperforming the industry in FY24.
Selling in Reliance shares
Shares of index heavyweight Reliance Industries tumbled 2.8 per cent amid selling pressure after the demerger of Jio Financial Services from the parent company. At a special trading session on Thursday, the value of JFSL shares was derived at Rs 261.85 and RIL shares are now trading ex-demerger. RIL shares were also in focus today as the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate will announce its June quarter results in which a double-digit fall in profit is expected.
Technical worries
Although momentum indicators were bullish on Thursday, the short-term texture of the market appeared to be overbought and hence traders used the downside in IT stocks to book profit in other counters as well.
Nasdaq Spoiler
Amid selloffs in Netflix and Tesla, tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 2 per cent last night and also had a rub-off effect on Indian stocks. Tesla shares fell nearly 10 per cent as the electric car maker saw profit margins erode as the result of price cuts. Similarly, Netflix sank 8.4 per cent on missing revenue estimates.
What Should Investors Do Now?
Dr. Joseph Thomas, Head of Research, Emkay Wealth Management said: “The markets trended lower during the week gone by, as the IT sector witnessed a drag owing to a weak set of numbers being declared by one of the majors. The concerns regarding the global economic outlook too impacted the sentiments; the strong growth reported by China failed to meaningfully influence the bulls. Over the near term, the markets may be expected to be volatile, led by very stock-specific movements as the earnings season goes underway in full swing.”
Technical Outlook
Commenting on the technical outlook for Nifty, Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said: “Nifty ended exactly flat on April 21 after recovering from morning weakness. At close, Nifty was up 0.40 points at 17624.05. Volumes on the NSE were on the lower side. Broad market indices ended in the negative even as the advance-decline ratio ended in the negative at 0.68:1. Nifty fell 1.14 per cent over the week forming a bearish engulfing pattern. 17842-17863 band will now be a crucial resistance for the Nifty. 17428 could be a support in the near term. Q4 results have turned out to be mixed bag and the broad market seems tired due to lack of fund buying in small/midcaps.”
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