Stock market today: Sensex, Nifty 50 end choppy trade unchanged; broader markets bleed

Stock market today: Indian markets ended another trading session on a flat note as lackluster sentiment persisted, with investors remaining cautious about market direction. Donald Trump’s series of tariff announcements has unsettled investor confidence, resulting in lower participation in equities and keeping frontline indices confined to a narrow trading range.

While the financial sector provided some support to the market in today’s session, February 27, sharp declines in realty and auto stocks sent the Nifty 50 and Sensex lower, closing with minor losses. The broader market continues to face heavy selling pressure, consistently underperforming benchmark indices, leading to significant wealth erosion for retail investors.

The Nifty 50 ended the session with a slight decline of 0.01%, closing at 22,545, while the Sensex gained 0.01%, finishing at 74,612 compared to Tuesday’s close. The Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 1.14%, closing at 49,136.75, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 1.64%, settling at 15,156.

It appears that investors are using every market pullback as an opportunity to offload risky assets, highlighting a clear lack of confidence in a near-term recovery.

Besides, selling pressure has intensified in recent sessions, as experts believe that retail investors, family offices, and HNIs have joined forces with FPIs in offloading shares, leaving domestic institutional investors to absorb the bulk of the selling.

“In FY25, so far, FIIs have sold stocks in the cash market for ₹3,87,976 crores. Interestingly, the DIIs have more than compensated for this selling through buying for ₹5,55,519 crores. Despite this, the market has been trending down. It is possible that the activity of HNIs, UHNIs, and family offices, which are not reflected in the DII data, is also impacting the market. This smart investor category might have been on the sell side since they move with the fundamentals, and fundamentals have been deteriorating with the cyclical slowdown in GDP growth and corporate earnings,” said Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

The combination of both weak domestic and global factors is weighing on the investor’s sentiment. Meanwhile, Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on imports from the European Union, claiming that the economic and political bloc was formed “to screw” the U.S.

On Wednesday, during the first Cabinet meeting of his second term in office, he stated that duties on Canada and Mexico would take effect on April 2 and floated a 25% “reciprocal” tariff on European cars and other goods, as per the media reports.

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.