Stock Market in choppy waters as risk-off gains strength
Bombay Stock Exchange
By S Jha
New Delhi, March 19: Bulls were able to defend the 22000 Nifty level in the choppy session yesterday. But the risk-off sentiment looks gaining strength on the street. The global cues keep the markets in uncertain territory even while the Lok Sabha elections now bring additional risk for the market participants.
Brent crude has shot up by two per cent in a dampener for the market sentiments. The crude oil is now commanding a price of $87 per barrel. The uncertainty in the shipment of the cargos in the international waters amid unending Houthi firepower in the Red Sea Sea keeps the investors on the tenterhooks. The rise in the crude oil price may be an immediate term worry for the Indian markets.
The US Federal Reserve will be announcing its decision on the rate on Wednesday. The impact of the decision and the accompanying commentary will be seen in the Thursday session in the Indian markets. Largey, the consensus view concurs that the Fed will hold its guns and give out comments that it would be watching out key numbers before unveiling the rate cut pathways, likely later this year.
Yet, the tech-led rally in the US market continues, which may bring hopes in the Indian markets that some of the IT bellwethers could hold the indices steady. TCS may be under pressure amid the news that the Tata Sons could be selling shares to meet the regulatory requirements. But TCS has been seen in an outperformer mode on the street. The likes of Infosys, tech Mahindra, HCL Technology, and Wipro have in the last two months been seen to be reacting positively to a rally on the NASDAQ.
But chartists are worried that if the bulls were to lose the battle in defence of the 22000 Nifty level then the bears may bleed the street with much ferocity. It may be noted that the bulls have been toiling hard to defend the psychological level of 22000, which had been scaled after several attempts in the recent months. The index has already lost over 500 points in a short span of time. At the same time, the rout in the smallcap and the midcaps has also dented the risk-on sentiments of the investors.
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