The Russia-Ukraine conflict news has spooked global stock markets. On Monday and Tuesday, the US markets witnessed a sharp fall as the benchmark treasury yields shot-up. Indian market has been the victim to this global development for the past couple of days, experts said.
On Wednesday, the Sensex fell 1.08 per cent or 656 points to close at 60,098. The Nifty fell by 0.96 per cent or 174 points to close at 17,938. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) continued the selling spree, yet analysts believe that markets will factor in the bad news in the coming days and may not witness any big crash.
Since before the markets opened for trading on Wednesday, global media had been speculating that Russia was likely to invade Ukraine any moment. Russia has been building a large number of troops along the Ukraine border for the past several months now. The European Union has warned the Kremlin of “extreme consequences” should it take military action in Ukraine, news reports suggested.
Sensex had declined by nearly 1,000 points in just two trading sessions since crude oil, too, has been on a boil due to a drone attack in the UAE. Crude oil climbed to $85 per barrel on Wednesday and was likely to hit $100 in case of escalation between Russia and Ukraine.
FPIs sold stocks worth ₹2,705 in the cash markets on Wednesday. It was the largest single day sale by FPIs in January so far. FPIs have sold stocks worth ₹7,735 crore in the cash markets so far this month, as per stock exchange data. FPIs sold index futures worth ₹1,261 crore on Wednesday and bought stock futures worth ₹940 crore. The domestic institutional investors sold stocks worth only ₹195 crore in cash markets on Wednesday. DIIs have been net buyers of ₹6,391 crore, as per exchange data.
“Markets have a knack of factoring in the news that has been in the media for long. Nifty looks oversold in the short term after today’s fall and should bounce back quickly. The decline ahead of stock options delivery settlement is routine booking of monthly positions before margins rise. Expect a move back to 18,300,” said Rohit Srivastava, chief strategist, Indiacharts.
Meanwhile, the US markets opened on a positive note on Wednesday after two days of fall. The stock futures of Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq had recovered from the fall hours before market opening and indices in Europe, too, were trading 0.3 to 0.5 per cent higher.