Sensex Today | Stock Market View: Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services

A major catalyst driving the rally in global equity markets has been expectations of rate cut by the Fed. The Fed had indicated possibly three rate cuts in 2024 and markets had discounted up to five rate cuts. This was on expectations that inflation in the US will continue to trend down. This expectation has received a jolt from the US CPI inflation numbers rising year on year to 3.1% against expectation of 2.9%. This means that the Fed will certainly not cut rates in March and the number of rate cuts in 2024 also will be lower. The bond market has quickly responded with the US 10-year yield shooting up to 4.31%. The consequence in the Indian market would be heavy selling by FIIs. Banking stocks which form the largest chunk of FII holding will be under pressure. The broader market, which is overvalued, will also be impacted by the negative sentiment. Investors may wait and watch for better clarity to emerge.