The Indian stock markets closed flat on Tuesday, March 25, after experiencing a volatile trading session. Despite initial upward momentum, the markets struggled to maintain their gains.
At the close, the BSE Sensex stood at 78,017.19, gaining 32.81 points, or 0.04%. The Nifty 50 finished at 23,668.65, up by 10.30 points, or 0.04%.
Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) mostly ended in the red, with the IT sector being the only exception. Other sectors like auto, capital goods, consumer durables, metal, oil & gas, power, PSU banks, realty, and telecom saw declines of 1-1.5%.
Among the major gainers on the NSE were UltraTech Cement, Trent, Bajaj Finserv, Infosys, and Grasim Industries. On the other hand, the biggest losers included IndusInd Bank, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Adani Enterprises, Coal India, and Adani Ports.
The BSE Midcap index fell by 1%, while the Smallcap index dropped 1.6%.
A significant regulatory update from SEBI saw the threshold for Beneficial Ownership (BO) disclosures doubled from Rs. 25,000 crore to Rs. 50,000 crore. This move is aimed at revitalizing participatory notes (P-notes) and attracting more offshore capital. While this may bring in new capital, it also raises concerns about potential market volatility due to increased speculative trading.
The domestic benchmark indices opened strong, supported by positive global cues. However, after an initial surge, profit-booking led to the flat closing. The broader market underperformed the Nifty, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices falling by 1.06% and 1.56%, respectively.
The volatility index, India VIX, decreased by 0.47% to 13.64, signaling a reduction in market volatility.
Technically, on the daily chart, the Nifty formed a red candle with a long upper shadow, signaling selling pressure at higher levels, according to Hrishikesh Yedve, AVP of Technical and Derivatives Research at Asit C. Mehta Investment Intermediates Ltd.
Similarly, the Bank Nifty opened with a gap-up, but faced profit booking, closing lower at 51,608. The index encountered resistance near the 52,000 level and formed a red candle on the daily chart, indicating weakness. The 200-Day Simple Moving Average (200-DSMA) around 50,980 is expected to act as key support for the index.
