Sensex Ends 1,688 Points Lower As Covid Variant Spooks Market; Worst

Nifty could still lose about 300-400 points, stabilise, then probably see some sort of build-up: Prakash Diwan

Market expert Prakash Diwan believes the Nifty50 could still lose about 300-400 points, stabilise and then probably start to see some some buying. Speaking on concerns about the new COVID variant, he said: “Look at what’s happening. South Africa has come up with these details on the new variant of coronavirus. But how much traffic do we have in South Africa? How much of global travel gets impacted by that? We don’t have any change in our statistics in that sense, which is so adverse. And still we are reacting to that. So the market was looking for some trigger and my sense is that the froth will go out,” he said. 

A lot of companies, whose shares were waiting to correct post- earnings, will have to go through this phase of correction, he said. “Look at chemicals, the specialty chemical pack, look at some of the other consumption names… And all of that will probably mean that institutional money, the smart money, will start to buy into lower levels, because this could also be temporary. And in hindsight, we know what the impact can be. Last year, in March, when things happened with COVID. We saw the outbreak for the first time. Nobody had a clue in terms of how it’s going to impact the economy and the markets. But today, you are much wiser,” he said.