Sensex sheds 571 points, Nifty slips below 22,450

Mumbai: The domestic equity market closed sharply lower on Thursday, extending losses for the fourth consecutive trading session amid heightened concerns over rising energy prices, volatile bond yields and the possibility of further monetary tightening.

The Sensex declined 570.59 points, or 0.79 per cent, to settle at 71,909.70, while the Nifty fell 198.50 points, or 0.88 per cent, to close at 22,421.95.

Commenting on Nifty technical outlook, experts said that the Nifty has broken below its weekly 200-SMA zone of 22,600–22,580 and nearly tested the projected support at 22,400.

"A failure to defend 22,400 could extend weakness towards 22,200–22,000, while 22,600–22,800 has now become the immediate resistance band," market watchers stated.

Market participants remained cautious as elevated energy costs and fluctuations in global bond yields raised concerns about inflationary pressures and the outlook for interest rates, leading to broad-based selling across sectors.

Among the Nifty constituents, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki India and Shriram Finance emerged as the biggest losers of the day, reflecting weakness in auto and financial stocks.

Selling pressure was also visible in the broader market. The Nifty MidCap 100 index ended 1.01 per cent lower, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.97 per cent.

On the sectoral front, automobile, media, metal and FMCG stocks bore the brunt of the sell-off. The Nifty Auto, Nifty Media, Nifty Metal and Nifty FMCG indices recorded the steepest declines among sectoral gauges.

In contrast, information technology stocks provided a measure of support to the market, with the Nifty IT index emerging as the top-performing sector during the session.

"Long-term investors may stay invested and use market weakness to accumulate gradually, while short-term investors could adopt a wait-and-watch approach until stronger measures from international institutions & the govt help restore stability in global financial markets," analysts noted.

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