Stock market today: Sensex, Nifty fall for 3rd consecutive session; IT stocks among top drags; mid, smallcaps outperform

Stock market today: Indian stock market benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty 50 ended with losses for the third consecutive session on Tuesday, April 16, with select IT heavyweight stocks including Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, HCL Tech and TCS among the top losers, amid weak global cues.

Weak global cues kept the mood low back home as strong US retail sales print for March strengthened worries that the US Federal Reserve may delay rate cuts this year.

Among the Asian peers, KOSPI, Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite Index and Nikkei fell up to 2 per cent while major European markets, such as FTSE, CAC and DAX, traded over a per cent lower when the Sensex closed.

Rising geopolitical tensions boosted crude oil prices and dealt a blow to the risk appetite of investors who ruched to safer assets such as gold and the US dollar. The US dollar climbed to more than five-month highs while gold prices hovered near record-high levels.

Sensex closed 456 points, or 0.62 per cent, lower at 72,943.68 while the Nifty 50 ended with a loss of 125 points, or 0.56 per cent, at 22,147.90.

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Mid and smallcap indices, however, ended in the green, outperforming the benchmarks. The BSE Midcap index inched up by 0.05 per cent while the BSE Smallcap index ended with a healthy gain of 0.57 per cent.

Meanwhile, crude oil benchmark Brent Crude traded near the $90 per barrel mark. The Indian rupee fell 9 paise to close at 83.54 per dollar, Bloomberg data showed.

Top Nifty 50 gainers today

Shares of Eicher Motors, Hindustan Unilever, ONGC, Titan, Divi's Labs and HDFC Bank ended as the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index, rising 1-3 per cent.

Top Nifty 50 losers today

As many as 34 stocks ended lower in the Nifty 50 index among which Infosys, LTIMindtree, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro and HCL Tech ended as the top losers.

Also Read: Top Gainers and Losers today on 16 April, 2024: Eicher Motors, Divis Laboratories, Infosys, Indusind Bank among most active stocks; Check full list here

Sectoral indices today

With a loss of 2.58 per cent, the Nifty IT index ended as the top loser among sectoral indices. All components in the index ended in the red amid growing concerns that the US Fed may not start cutting rates this year. This could impact economic recovery and push clients to curtail their discretionary spending on IT services.

Nifty PSU Bank index fell 1.27 per cent and the private bank index declined 0.66 per cent. Nifty Bank fell 0.60 per cent.

Among the gainers, Nifty Media rose 1.57 per cent.

Expert views on markets

"The domestic market sustained its consolidation trend for the third consecutive day, amid apprehensions regarding geopolitical tensions and a drop in the probability of a rate cut in the short-term. Heightened concerns arose following stronger-than-anticipated US retail sales, amplifying the assumption that the US Federal Reserve might delay rate cuts, leading to a notable uptick in the dollar index and US bond yields," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

"The IT sector saw the most significant decline, primarily due to expectations of earnings being affected by the weak discretionary spending in the US and muted domestic Q4 results," Nair said.

Also Read: Why you should invest in Indian stock market despite Iran-Israel tensions, delay in rate cut

Technical views on Nifty 50

"Technically, the trend has weakened as the index fell below the 21EMA. However, following the sharp decline, the index may find short-term support within the 21930-22030 bands, where previous congestion occurred. Conversely, failure to maintain support at 21930 could exacerbate panic in the market. On the higher end, resistance for the short term is positioned at 22400," said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities.

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