On Friday, Indian equity benchmarks fell for the third consecutive session, reflecting a negative trend in global equities amid growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

The Nifty50has formed a reasonable negative candle on the daily chart with upper and lower shadows, which could be a sign of continuation of the downtrend, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

Strong overhead resistance at 16,800-17,000 is left unchallenged and initial support at 16,250 breached, suggesting more weakness for the market ahead, he said.  

Indian Indices

Sensex fell 768.87 points or 1.40% to 54,333.81 and Nifty was down by 252.70 points or 1.53% to 16,245.35 in the previous session. Sensex touched high and low of 55,013.27 and 53,887.72, respectively. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. Nifty traded in a range of 16,456.00 and 16,133.80. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

Broader Indices

The broader indices ended in red with the BSE Midcap index falling 2.36%, while the Small cap index was down by 1.64%. The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 3.40%, Metal down by 3.35%, Consumer Discretionary down by 3.23%, Consumer Durables down by 3.20% and Realty down by 3.06%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

Support and Resistance levels

The key support level for the Nifty is placed at 16,101, followed by 15,956. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 16,423 and 16,601, according to pivot charts.

SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 184-points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 16,081.00 on the Singaporean Exchange around 06:45 hours IST.

Asian Markets

Asian markets finished broadly lower on Friday with shares in Hong Kong leading the region. The Hang Seng was down 2.54% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 was off 2.23% and China’s Shanghai Composite was lower by 0.96%.

US Markets

The S&P 500 fell 34.62 points, or 0.8%, to 4,328.87.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 179.86 points, or 0.5%, to 33,614.80.

The Nasdaq fell 224.50 points, or 1.7%, to 13,313.44.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 31.51 points, or 1.6%, to 2,000.90.

European Markets

European markets finished sharply lower on Friday with shares in France leading the region. The CAC 40 was down 4.97% while Germany’s DAX was off 4.41% and London’s FTSE 100 was lower by 3.48%.

TCS’s share buyback plan will be open from March 9 to March 23

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on March 5 released the dates of its Rs 18,000-crore share buyback offer, which was announced in January this year. The offer will open on March 9, and the window will close at 5 pm on March 23, it said. Sharing details of the buyback entitlement, TCS said that in the reserved category for small shareholders, the ratio of buyback will be “1 equity share for every 7 equity shares held on the record date”. In the general category for all other eligible shareholders, the ratio of buyback will be “1 equity share for every 108 equity shares held on the record date”. Notably, this will be TCS’ fourth buyback and, in the earlier three buybacks, Tata Sons was the biggest beneficiary.

JK Cement is preparing to enter the paint industry

JK Cement Ltd, a well-known manufacturer of grey cement, has announced its foray into the paint business. The board of the company cleared the company’s proposal to enter the paint field. JK Cement will get into the paint business through a wholly-owned subsidiary. The board has also approved an investment of Rs 600 crore into the paint venture which will be infused over a five-year period. “The subsidiary would undertake manufacturing, selling, trading, importing and exporting and otherwise dealing in all types of paints and allied products and services,” the company said in a stock exchange filing.

India’s forex reserves declined by $1.425 billion to $631.527 billion

India’s forex reserves declined by $1.425 billion to $631.527 billion for the week ended on February 25 due to a dip in currency assets, according to the Reserve Bank data released on Friday. The overall reserves had increased by $2.762 billion to $632.952 billion in the previous reporting week. During the reporting week, the foreign currency assets (FCA) declined by $2.228 billion to $564.832 billion. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. The value of the gold reserves continued its northward journey and increased by $958 million to $42.467 billion in the reporting week, the data showed.

Axis Bank set to acquire Citibank’s retail business in India

Citibank’s retail business in India is set to be acquired by Axis Bank and the closure of the deal is expected to be finalised by next week, reported CNBC-TV18. “Citibank is set to announce the closure of deal for its consumer business in India next week,” sources told CNBC-TV18. It also reported that the size of the deal is between $2 and $2.5 billion. As part of the deal, Citibank will continue to serve the customers during the integration period so that the transition is seamless and no one is inconvenienced. “Total size of the deal expected between $2 to $2.5 billion including cash component and incentives. Citi may continue to service customers during the integration period with Axis as part of the deal,” sources added. Axis Bank will also acquire Citibank’s credit card division in India, according to the report.

PNB Housing Finance board to take call on fundraising on March 9

PNB Housing Finance’s board would take a call on raising capital, including through rights issue, next week after a failed attempt to garner Rs 4,000 crore by selling a stake to Carlyle Group last year. A meeting of the Board of Directors of PNB Housing Finance Limited is scheduled to be held on March 9 to consider fundraising options by the issue of equity shares through appropriate methods (including rights issue), subject to requisite approvals, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday. “Pursuant to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015, as amended, and the Insider Trading Policy of the Company, the trading window for dealing in the securities of the company is closed from March 5, 2022, to March 11, 2022, for the designated persons,” it added. PNB Housing Finance had decided to sell a part of its stake to a group of investors led by private equity firm Carlyle in May.

Bulk Deal data

VINEET SURESHCHANDRA ARYA sold 1,80,000 shares in Art Nirman Limited at Rs 138.60 per share on the NSE.

NEOMILE CORPORATE ADVISORY PRIVATE LIMITED bought 30,53,664 shares in Spicejet Limited at Rs 59.41 per share on the NSE.

PIYUSHKUMAR THUMAR sold 2,46,000 shares in Bright Solar Limited at Rs 5.30 per share on the NSE.

VINOD HARILAL JHAVERI bought 80,000 shares of JAKHARIA FABRIC LIMITED at Rs 140.00 per share on NSE.

TAYAL SONS LTD sold 31,431 shares of Hisar Metal Ind. Limited at Rs 133.94 per share on NSE.

AARAVI DEVELOPERS PRIVATE LIMITED bought 3,27,000 shares in Shiv Aum Steels Limited at Rs 78.04 per share on the NSE.

SHASHANK PRAVINCHANDRA DOSHI sold 96,000 equity shares in Uravi T And Wedg Lamp Ltd at Rs 126.00 per share on the NSE, the bulk deals data showed.

DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 7,631.02 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 4,738.99 crore in the Indian equity market on March 4, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

NSE F&O Ban

No stock or security has been put under the F&O ban for March 7. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.