Markets extend losses | HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential, ICICI Lombard among insurance stocks hitting 52-week lows

Three insurance stocks hit their 52-week lows on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday, March 14. This included HDFC Life Insurance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and ICICI Lombard. Insurance firms namely SBI Life Insurance, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and New India Assurance were near 52-week lows.

HDFC Life Insurance hit the 52-week low of Rs 468.75. It, however, closed the session 7.85 points lower at Rs 471.10 apiece.

Shares of ICICI Prudential hit the 52-week low of Rs 386. It closed the session 5.80 percent lower at Rs 386.90 apiece. On the other hand, ICICI Lombard hit 52-week low of Rs 1,052.25 apiece.

SBI Life, meanwhile was 40 points away from reaching its 52-week lows. LIC was 10 points away and New India Assurance was 20 points away.

Overall on NSE, a total of 235 stocks hit their 52-week lows. This included Cipla, Tata Consumer Products Limited, Suven Life Sciences Limited, Pfizer Limited, Page Industries, Motilal Oswal Finnacial Services Limited, among others. Alternatively, 17 stocks including Binani Industries Limited, Sonata Software Limited, Usha Martin Limited hit their 52-week highs.

 

Meanwhile, the Sensex fell 338 points to close lower at 57,900, and the Nifty fell 111 points to end at 17,043. The Nifty Bank slipped 153 points to 39,411, and the mid-cap index fell by 157 points to 29,949. Several heavyweights dragged the Nifty down, including TCS, Infosys, Kotak Bank, and ITC.

Analysts said relentless foreign capital outflows, investors junking riskier assets and weakness in the rupee against the US dollar hit the market sentiment.

According to Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research at Religare Broking Ltd, markets are dancing to the global tunes.

"Indications are in the favor of some breather after the recent slide but the upside seems capped too. Meanwhile, participants should stay light and focus more on risk management," he said.

Echoing similar views, Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd said that markets are likely to remain under pressure in the near term, as the US banking crisis deepens with more and more US banks coming under the cloud.

"Now all eyes will be on the US inflation data that will be released late on Tuesday and would be key factor for the Fed’s decision on interest rate in its upcoming meeting amidst the ongoing banking turmoil," he said.