Market rally halts, Sensex snap 2-day winning run, falls 617 pts

The domestic equity benchmark indices snapped a two-day winning run and ended lower with Nifty below 22,350 as investors remained cautious ahead of the release of US inflation data on Tuesday.At close, the Sensex was down 616.75 points or 0.83 percent at 73,502.64, and the Nifty was down 160.90 points or 0.72 percent at 22,332.65.
Apollo Hospitals, Nestle India, Cipla, SBI Life Insurance and Bajaj Finserv were the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Tata Consumer Products, Power Grid Corporation, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto and SBI.
On the sectoral front,all indices ended in the red with auto, capital goods, FMCG, oil & gas, bank, Information Technology, realty, metal and power down 0.5-1 percent each.The BSE mid-cap index shed 0.2 percent and small-cap index fell 2 percent.
Rupee Close:
On 11 Mar'24,the Indian rupee depreciated 8 paise to settle at 82.75 against the US dollar on Monday, tracking bearish equity markets.Forex analysts said weakness in the US dollar and a decline in crude oil prices had cushioned the downslide.The forex market was closed on Friday for Mahashivratri.
Trading Guide:
Market experts have recommended six day trading stocks for Monday — Zensar Tech, Blue Star, Hero Motocorp, Raymond, Tata Power, and Chambal Fertilisers.
All eyes on RBI in wake of rupee's likely push higher, $5 bn swap maturity.The Indian rupee's likely rise at open on Monday and a $5 billion swap maturity will mean that all the focus will be on the Reserve Bank of India, traders said.The RBI's $5 billion dollar/rupee sell/buy swap matures on Monday, according to reports.The central bank will take delivery of the swap, which would take $5 billion out of the system and inject proportionate rupee liquidity, stated report.
"Two things to watch for today", an FX trader at a bank said. "First off, whether RBI will again intervene and buy (in spot) and then whether it will supply dollars (to counter the swap maturity)." The RBI may supply dollars if there is "a serious dislocation" in the overnight swap rate. It may additionally opt to pay in the near forwards if it wants to "make last" the dollar supply, stated report.

(Writer is a Finance Research Analyst, based in Gandhinagar, Gujarat)