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Below is the Daily Market Commentary 18 February 2022 By Mr. Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd

Domestic equities continued to witness weakness as uncertain atmosphere globally affected investors’ appetite. Nifty opened negative and consolidated in range of ~160 points throughout the session. It finally closed with minor loss of 28 points at 17,277 levels. Broader markets underperformed and closed with loss of 1%. Among sectors, except for Nifty Bank and Financial Services, all other sectors ended in red with Realty, Oil & Gas, Pharma and Auto being major laggards.

Global markets were mixed bag as selling eased off after US secretary accepted the invitation to meet Russia’s foreign minister next week for a resolution.

Equity markets have seen rise in volatility in the last couple of days due to varying news flows coming in from Ukraine border. Nifty has been trading in a broader range of 16,800-17,400 and needs a decisive breakout on either side for clear direction. Volatility is expected to remain high next week as well, given the crucial meeting between US and Russia. Inflationary concern, continuous FIIs selling and monthly FNO expiry could add to the volatility next week.

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