Sensex crashes over 900 pts, Nifty below 16,950 as Russia-Ukraine crisis escalates

Sensex and Nifty closed lower in volatile trade for the fourth straight session on Monday amid a sell-off across all sectors. Sensex ended 149 points lower at 57,683 and Nifty dropped 69 points to 17,206.

The market is witnessing a sharp cut in early trade of Tuesday’s trading session on the back of intense geopolitical tension. We are in monthly F&O expiry week therefore we could see a surge in volatility whereas March is going to be a very volatile month due to lots of events like geopolitical uncertainty, results of state elections, US Fed meeting, etc. 

The overall trend is bullish but we may have high volatility over the next month therefore short-term traders should remain light while long-term investors should look at this correction as a buying opportunity. We are very bullish on capital goods, infrastructure, real estate, banking, consumer goods, and auto ancillaries space therefore we advise investors to look for buying opportunities in these areas. 

Technically, Nifty is trying to respect its 200-DMA which is currently placed around 16850 while if Nifty starts to trade below 200-DMA then correction may see further extension towards 16000/15500 levels. On the upside, 17300/17500 are important resistance levels; above this, we can expect positive momentum in the market.

Investors lost nearly Rs 6 lakh crore within minutes of market opening as Sensex and Nifty crashed amid rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

Market cap of BSE-listed firms fell by Rs 6.03 lakh crore after investor wealth declined to Rs 251.36 lakh crore against Rs  257.39 lakh crore in the previous session.

Sensex fell 922 points to 56,760 and Nifty dropped 302 points to 16,903.

Widespread selling on the mid cap and small cap counters also hit market sentiment. BSE mid cap and small cap indices declined 397 points and 542 points, respectively in trade today.