US markets decline on triple-witching day; GIFT Nifty down

US markets fell ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week with S&P 500 trading 0.44 percent lower at 5,126.86. At 9:00 pm, Nasdaq fell by nearly a percent to 15,998.99 owing to the weak performance of tech stocks amid inflation concerns. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also declined 0.27 percent to 38,801.32.

The markets also faced ‘triple witching’ on March 15, a day when there was simultaneous expiration of stock options, index futures and stock index option contractions. This occurs quarterly on the third Friday of March, June, September and December of every year. Triple witching is known to spike trading activities as was witnessed in the US markets today. The GIFT Nifty traded flat-to-negative at 22,091.00.

The European markets saw a mixed session. Germany’s DAX hovered close to record high levels, up 0.26 percent at 17,989.20. The CAC was up half a percent at 8,207.19 while the FTSE traded flat-to-negative at 7,739.26.

Earlier during the day, the Nikkei ended 0.26 percent lower at 38,707.64, dragged by losses in semi-conductor linked shares. The Hang Seng fell 1.42 percent at 16,720.89.

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The Indian indices also traded in the red, the Nifty was down 0.56 percent at 22,023.35 and Sensex ended 0.62 percent lower at 72,743.43.

DIIs sold Rs 682.26 crores while the FPIs/FIIs net purchased Rs 848.56 crores.

Crude broke its three-day streak and fell 0.33 percent lower to 80.99. Brent also fell 0.27 percent to 85.19.