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Below is the Daily Market Commentary 14 February 2022 By Mr. Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd

Equity markets opened gap down amidst Russia-Ukraine geo-political tension and further nosedived during the day to end the session at day’s low. Nifty plunged 532 points (-3.1%) to close at 16,843. The broader market tanked almost 4% with Nifty Midcap 100/Nifty Smallcap 100 down -3.9%/-4.4%. India VIX spiked by 23% to 23 levels, signalling wild swings and fickleness in the market. All the sectors witnessed selling pressure with Banks, Auto, Media, Metals and Pharma plummeting more than 4%.

Global markets continued last week’s selloff, as the threat of war in Ukraine added to concerns surrounding high inflation and the potential interest rate hikes by US Fed.

Nifty has corrected ~8% from its recent peak of 18,350 levels on back of inflationary concern and ongoing geo-political issues between Russia and Ukraine. Brent oil crossed $96/bbl highest in seven years on fears of Russian invasion of Ukraine and possible sanctions that could disrupt exports from the world's top producer. Back home, assembly elections in Goa and Phase II of Uttar Pradesh began on Monday where the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is the incumbent government in both states. Also with government planning the mega IPO of LIC in March can suck up liquidity in the capital market as Rs70,000 crore is a huge number to deal with - especially in the last month of the fiscal. Till the time the global uncertainty continues, market volatility is expected to remain on the higher side. Hence Traders are advised to avoid leverage and stay light on their positions.

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