Amid high volatility, the Indian markets on Monday closed in the red. The BSE Sensex slipped by around 38 points, while Nifty50 settled above the 16200 level, witnessing a drop of almost 50 points. The metal stocks dragged the market most as on Saturday the government raise the export duty on steel. 

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Even broader markets succumbed to selling pressure, as mid-cap dipped by 0.3 per cent while small-cap tumbled 0.8 per cent at the market close. Similarly, the 12-share banking index too ended in the red with a marginal drop of almost 29 points to the 34,247 mark at the market close. 

As many as 25 stocks advanced and 25 declined on Nifty50 at the close. Steel companies such as JSW Steel and Tata Steel cracked become the top losers on Nifty, each down around 13 per cent. While Auto stocks like Maruti and M&M , top gainers, jumped over 4 per cent on fuel excise duty cut news. 

Despite robust March quarter results, the pharma major Divi’s Lab closed nearly 10 per cent lower following management commentary on earnings. Similarly, Amara Raja also tumbled over 6 per cent lower after reporting a weak set of earnings during the March-end quarter. 

Amid brokerages upgrade, Ashok Leyland closed as a top midcap gainer, up over 4 per cent. Indian Hotels shares rose over 3 per cent on the company’s plan of achieving a 33 per cent margin by FY26 and ITC falls over 2 per cent as on reports of the government’s stake sale plan via OFS. 

We have collated views from different experts as to what investors should do when trading resumes: 

Expert: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services   

The government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are making persistent efforts to moderate future inflation. 

Government fiscal measures like a hike in customs duty on steel and similar steps on other products in the future will help to control inflation.  

However, the hawkish monetary and fiscal measures adopted by RBI and the government will have a cascading effect on the market and economy in the short to medium-term.   

Expert: Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas   

The Nifty went on to test the crucial level of 16400 where the index had faced resistance in the last two weeks. 16400 proved to be a strong barrier yet another time. The hourly chart shows that the upper end of an upward sloping channel also created pressure near 16400.  

Thus, the index nose-dived towards the end of the session and closed in the red for the day. The overall structure shows that the Nifty is likely to witness sideways action in the short term. 16000 – 16400 is expected to be the range for the next few sessions.   

Expert: Kunal Shah - Senior Technical & Derivative Analyst at LKP Securities  

The Nifty metal index on the back of government policy news witnessed a massive sell-off. The Index is trading at very crucial support of 5,100 and if fails to sustain above it will lead to a further sell-off. The upside resistance stands at 5,800 and the index remains in a sell-on-rise mode.   

Expert: S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities  

The prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict coupled with its consequences and inflationary pressures weighed heavily on the minds of investors and traders. Prospects of additional market borrowings by the GOI in the wake of the tax cuts on fuel to tame inflation also came to the forefront. 

Expert: Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd

Markets ended marginally lower in a volatile trading session and settled closer to the day’s low. After the initial uptick, the benchmark gradually inched higher in the first half however selling pressure in the latter half trimmed all the gains and pushed the index lower.

Global headwinds are keeping the markets on the edge and the last leg of earnings is further adding to the volatility. We reiterate our cautious view and suggest preferring hedged positions until we see a decisive breakout from the 15,700-16,400 range in Nifty.