Nifty correcting despite big buying by institutional investors

New Delhi, March 20: Trends are emerging in the market decline on Tuesday as the Nifty corrected by more than 1 per cent even when institutions were big buyers, says V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

DII buying was Rs 7449 crore and FII buying was Rs 1421 crore. TCS bulk sales by Tata Sons cloud this institutional activity. The important point is that there has been profit booking by HNIs and retail investors which pulled the market down. SEBI’s warning about elevated valuations in the broader market has played a role in this profit booking, he said.

The US Fed’s rate decision, more importantly the Fed commentary on Wednesday night, will decide the trend in the US market, he said.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said Asian shares were muted on Wednesday on concerns the Federal Reserve could signal a slower path of rate cuts this year.

In addition to releasing its rate decision after the meeting wraps up on Wednesday, the US central bank will update its economic projections as well as its unofficial forecast for the direction of interest rates over the next several years. India’s net direct tax collection grew 19.88 per cent to over Rs 18.90 lakh crore till March 17 on higher advance tax mop-up, he said.

BSE Sensex fell below the 72 K mark on Wednesday led by fall in Tata Group stocks. Sensex is trading at 71,881.09 points, down by 130.96 points. Tata Motors is down 3 per cent, Tata Steel is down 2 per cent.