Domestic indices opened flat but within minutes fell half a percent on weekly F&O expiry. The NSE Nifty 50 fell 73.50 pts or 0.42% to 17,377.40 and BSE Sensex fell 321.82 pts or 0.54% to 59,089.26. The top gainers on Nifty 50 were Adani Enterprises (up 2.65%), Coal India (up 1.49%), Adani Ports (up 1.36%), Hero Motocorp (up 1.16%) and Bajaj Finserv (up 0.95%) while TCS (down 1.57%), Infosys (down 1.39%), Axis Bank (down 1.29%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.18%) and ONGC (down 1.10%).
Eicher Motors shares fell 1.14% to Rs 3103 after its motorcycle brand Royal Enfield reported monthly sales figures. The company sold 71,544 motorcycles in February 2023, growing 21% over 59,160 motorcycles sold in the same period last year but motorcycles with engine capacity over 350cc segment registered a 30% YoY decline at 6,734 units.
Sectoral Indices
Most of the sectoral indices were trading in the red. Bank Nifty fell 74.35 pts or 0.18% to 40,623.80 pts, Nifty IT was down 1.41%, Nifty Realty climbed 0.67%, Nifty Pharma was down 0.35% and Nifty Auto slipped 0.54%.
Asian and US stock markets
Asian markets were trading mixed with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.29%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tanking 1.06% while China’s Shanghai Composite index rose marginally by 0.02% and South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 0.27%.
The US markets ended the overnight session mostly lower with S&P 500 falling 0.47%, Nasdaq dipping 0.66% while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose marginally by 0.02%.
FII and DII data
Foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold shares worth Rs 424.88 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) acquired equities worth Rs 1498.66 crore on 1 March, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.
NSE F&O Ban
The National Stock Exchange has put no stock/security in its F&O ban list for Thursday, 2 March. According to the NSE, stocks are prohibited in the F&O sector once they have exceeded 95% of the market-wide position limit (MWPL). During the F&O ban period, no new positions are permitted for F&O contracts in that stock.
