The Indian equity benchmarks mirrored losses in other Asian markets after geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated after Rusian President Vladmir Putin on Sunday ordered nuclear forces to be put on high alert sending equities on a downward spiral and pushing up prices of oil and safe haven gold. The Sensex fell close to 1,000 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 16,356.
As of 9:31 am, the Sensex was down 1.7 per cent or 936 points to 54,922 and Nifty 50 index dropped 280 points or 1.68 per cent to 16,378.
Citing “aggressive statements” by NATO and tough financial sanctions, Putin issued a directive to increase the readiness of Russia’s nuclear weapons, raising fears that the invasion of Ukraine could lead to nuclear war, whether by design or mistake.
The Russian leader is “potentially putting in play forces that, if there’s a miscalculation, could make things much, much more dangerous,” said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss rapidly unfolding military operations.
"Nifty’s likely to face the resistance of it’s 200 DMA. Nifty has an immediate support at 16,500. Any move below the same may extend the fall toward 16,370-16,250 mark. On the flip side 16,770-16,900 will act as strong resistance levels," Nirmal Bang said in a note.
Selling pressure was visible across sectors as all the 19 sector gauges by BSE, barring the measure of metal shares, were trading lower led by S&P BSE Bankex index's 2 per cent fall. S&P BSE Auto, Information Technology, Finance, FMCG, Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services, CONSUMER DURABLES and Realty indices also fell between 1.4-2 per cent.
Broader markets also succumbed to selling pressure as S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap indices fell over 1.2 per cent each.
SBI Life was top Nifty gainer, the stock fell nearly 3 per cent to Rs 1,026. Asian Paints, HDFC Life, Britannia Industries, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, Bajaj Finserv, Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Finance also fell between 1.9-2.8 per cent.
On the flipside, Power Grid, Coal India, Bharat Petroleum, Hindalco, Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Sun Pharma were among the notable losers.
The overall market breadth was negative as 2,012 shares were declining while 913 were advancing on the BSE.
(With inputs form AP)
