Stock market today: Sensex, Nifty 50 end choppy trade unchanged; broader markets bleed

Stock market today: Indian markets ended another trading session on a flat note as lackluster sentiment persisted, with investors remaining cautious about market direction. Donald Trump's series of tariff announcements has unsettled investor confidence, resulting in lower participation in equities, which has kept the frontline indices confined to a narrow trading range.

While the financial stocks offered some support on Thursday, February 27, sharp declines in realty and auto stocks kept the Nifty 50 and Sensex near their previous closing levels. However, the broader market remained under intense selling pressure, resulting in significant wealth erosion for retail investors.

The Nifty 50 ended the session with a slight decline of 0.01%, closing at 22,545, while the Sensex gained 0.01%, finishing at 74,612 compared to Tuesday's close. The Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 1.14%, closing at 49,136.75, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 1.64%, settling at 15,156.

It appears that investors are using every market pullback as an opportunity to offload risky assets, highlighting a clear lack of confidence in a near-term recovery.

Besides, selling pressure has intensified in recent sessions, as experts believe that retail investors, family offices, and HNIs have joined forces with FPIs in offloading shares, leaving domestic institutional investors to absorb the bulk of the selling.

"In FY25, so far, FIIs have sold stocks in the cash market for ₹3,87,976 crore. Interestingly, the DIIs have more than compensated for this selling through buying for ₹5,55,519 crore. Despite this, the market has been trending down. It is possible that the activity of HNIs, UHNIs, and family offices, which are not reflected in the DII data, is also impacting the market. This smart investor category might have been on the sell side since they move with the fundamentals, and fundamentals have been deteriorating with the cyclical slowdown in GDP growth and corporate earnings," said Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

The combination of weak domestic and global factors is weighing on investor sentiment, with escalating trade tensions remaining at the forefront of market concerns. Adding to the uncertainty, Trump threatened to impose a 25% tariff on imports from the European Union, claiming that the economic and political bloc was formed "to undermine" the U.S.

On Wednesday, during the first Cabinet meeting of his second term in office, he stated that duties on Canada and Mexico would take effect on April 2 and floated a 25% "reciprocal" tariff on European cars and other goods, as per the media reports.

Sectoral Performance: Financial stocks lead, media stocks lag

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Media emerged as the top laggard, declining 3.58%, followed by Nifty Realty and Nifty Auto, which fell 2.09% and 1.51%, respectively. Other sectoral indices, including Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Consumer Durables, Nifty FMCG, and Nifty IT, also ended the session lower, with losses ranging between 0.47% and 1.09%.

On the winning side, Nifty Financial Services was the top sectoral performer, gaining 0.60%. Nifty Metal and Nifty Bank also managed to close in the green, rising 0.58% and 0.30%, respectively.

NBFC stocks came under investors’ radar today after the central bank further eased capital requirements for micro-loans and bank credit. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Tuesday, trimmed the higher capital requirements introduced in November—marking the latest in a series of growth-supportive measures since Sanjay Malhotra took over as governor in December.

Commenting on today's market performance, Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “Domestic equity main indices remained largely unchanged due to optimism in the financial sector supported by the RBI’s decision to ease lending norms for microfinance institutions and NBFCs. The global market swayed negatively, and domestic broader market sentiment remained weak due to fresh uncertainty surrounding US tariff policies. Amid ongoing trade tensions, investors are also keeping a close watch on US and domestic GDP data for further indications of economic strength."

Technical Outlook

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said, "Nifty remained range bound during the day before closing flat. Sellers continued to dominate the market at higher levels. On the lower end, 22,500 continues to act as support, similar to how 22,800 did a few days ago. We expect Nifty to decline towards 22,200 and lower if it falls below 22,500. On the higher end, 22,650 might act as immediate resistance. In the short term, the index is likely to remain a "sell on rise" as long as it stays below the 22,750-22,800 range."

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.