Double whammy of rising bond yields, Iran-Israel conflict pulls market down

The equity benchmarks continued to trade lower on April 16 afternoon as rising bond yields and Israel's vow to respond to Iran's attack fanned worries about a widening conflict. Broader markets, however, outperformed the Sensex and the Nifty as volatility cooled off marginally.

The Sensex was down 422.27 points or 0.58 percent at 72,977.51, and the Nifty was down 98.00 points or 0.44 percent at 22,174.50. The market breadth was in favour of gainers as around - 2,208 shares advanced, 958 shares declined, and 82 shares unchanged.

Among sectors, Nifty Media index was the top performer of the day as it gained over a percent, followed by Nifty Auto and Nifty Pharma indices. On the contrary, Nifty IT index was the worst performer weighed by weakness in Infosys, TCS, HCL Technologies, and Wipro.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities believes that the rising geo-political tensions in the Middle-East could keep risk sentiment in check as oil and gold prices lift up. "The short-term trend of Nifty has turned bearish as it has violated the crucial support of 20-days EMA, placed at 22,370," he opined.

Sameet Chavan, Head Research, Technical and Derivative - Angel One said that 22,000-22,100 is the next potent support zone for Nifty and until there is any major move on the global front, it is likely to hover in the similar zone. On the flipside, resistance was placed around 22,430-22,500 for Nifty index.