Tale of the Tape 

Good evening everyone. Markets got KO-ed today!

Nifty and Sensex crashed over -2% each, the worst fall in nearly two months. PS - read our top story on the reasons behind the market fall and what sectors you should be looking at. Midcaps (-2.2%) and Smallcaps (-2%) followed suit. 443 stocks in the NSE 500 ended in the red!

It was a sea of red across sectors. Real Estate fell a whopping -4.4%, while Auto (-2.9%) and Oil & Gas (-2.7%) saw deep cuts.

Dabur cracked -6% on a bad Q2 biz update. Bazaar Style Retail was up +6% on a positive update! More details below.

BPCL, Jubilant Ingrevia and Bandhan Bank saw big movements today. Check out their charts below to find out why.

Tata Motors (-4%) fell after its September sales were down -15% YoY.

Paint and tyre stocks got hit after global crude oil prices spiked over Middle East tensions. Asian Paints, Berger Paints, MRF and JK Tyre fell between -3% and -4%.

KRN Heat Exchanger had a blockbuster market debut, ending the day +115% higher than its IPO price of Rs 220 p/sh.

ITD Cementation was locked in a +20% upper circuit after bagging a Rs 1,937 cr construction order.

Reliance Power was locked in a +5% upper circuit after it signed a 1,270 MW renewable energy deal with Bhutan.

Suzlon Energy was locked in a -5% lower circuit after it failed to properly comply with disclosure rules on the resignation of its independent director.

Here are the closing prints:

Market
Say No To War!

Markets got thrashed after a trio of bad news sent Nifty crashing over 2%, its worst single day fall in two months. Here’s a quick look at what’s going on: 

1) Global tensions: The Middle East erupted again after Iran fired missiles at Israel in retaliation for its bombing in Lebanon. How does this affect you? For one, global oil prices are starting to rise and nobody wants inflation to return. But more broadly, regional conflict can easily spread. The first part of the Gaza war saw Houthi rebels fire missiles into the Red Sea, which hurt global trade routes. Nobody knows what will happen next; only that it won’t be good.

PS - the Stocktwits Sentiment Meter slipped into the “extremely bearish” zone for the first time in over 6 months. Probably nothing.

2) US port strike: Nearly 50k dock workers are striking in America, choking off both imports and exports. Reports say this is the “most disruptive work stoppage” in DECADES. If it doesn’t get resolved ASAP, it could have a major global economic impact on trade & inflation.

3) Derivatives crackdown: SEBI slyly put out its new rules on F&O trading post market hours on Tuesday. We’ve known for some time this is going to happen, but people thought the regulator may delay the move. The implementation timeline has been staggered out, but experts fear it could lead to less liquidity and depth in India’s markets.

Big Picture: Investors have been jittery for months amidst fears of euphoria & pricey valuations. So even smaller triggers can hurt big time. As expert Deven Choksey notes, the market is also not easily accepting premium valuations. Choksey’s advice for the long-term is to stick to large-caps within Nifty 100. 

That doesn’t mean we can’t make money in the short-term! Vinay Rajani, Sr. Analyst at HDFC Securities is bullish on metals (China stimulus + plenty of upside left), IT (Q2 should perk up the sector) and chemicals (small spots of sunshine amidst the gloom).