Fag-end buying lifts Sensex near flatline; Nifty holds 17,500

NEW DELHI: Fag-end buying propelled benchmark indices from the day’s low, but they still closed below the flatline following weak sentiments globally, as the market awaits the release of Indian and US November inflation numbers.

Losses in financial and IT sectors weighed on indices while realty, auto and metal stocks helped in erasing losses along with strong support from mid and smallcap stocks.

The 30-share pack Sensex declined 20.46 points or 0.03 per cent to close at 58,786.67. Its broader peer NSE Nifty dropped 5.55 points or 0.03 per cent to 17,511.30. Both indices snapped three-day winning streak.


“Markets in the immediate term will keenly watch out for the actions on asset tapering and key policy rates in the upcoming US Federal Reserve meeting. So far this month, FII continues to be a net seller in the Indian market,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities.

Market at a glance:

• Reliance Comm continues to surge, up 46 per cent in the week
• Deepak Fertilisers adds 2 per cent after unveiling TAN complex
• Marksans Pharma soars 5 per cent as it gets MHRA nod for Loperamide
• Bajaj Electricals jumps 7 per cent as co moves to review corporate structure
• IPO subscription: Metro 24 per cent, Shriram 5x, MapmyIndia 5x

Among the bluechip names, Asian Paints was the top gainer, rising 3.16 per cent. Grasim Industries, SBI Life Insurance, SBI, BPCL, TCS, JSW Steel, M&M and Bajaj Finserv were other gainers.

Divi’s Labs was the top loser in the Nifty pack, falling 1.55 per cent. Titan, HDFC, Tata Consumer, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, Coal India and UPL were others that ended in the red.

Broader market indices ended higher, outperforming their headline peers. Nifty Smallcap gained 0.81 per cent and Nifty Midcap advanced 0.80 per cent. Nifty 500, the broadest index on NSE, ended up 0.19 per cent.

The upcoming Fed meet will remain in focus along with the updates on the new variant. Amid all this, we reiterate our view to maintain a positive yet cautious approach and focus more on stock selection.

-Ajit Mishra, Religare Broking

TV18 Broadcast, India Energy Exchange, Aarti Drugs, Indian Bank, Hindustan Copper and Godrej Industries were top gainers from mid and smallcap indices, climbing in the range of 5-10 per cent.

Oil India, Dalmia Bharat, Dhani Services, HFCL, Tanla Platforms and BEML were major losers from broader market space, falling in the range of 1-7 per cent.

Sectoral matrix was mixed on NSE. Nifty PSU Bank climbed the most at 2.62 per cent. Nifty Media and Nifty Realty followed with over 2 per cent gains each. Nifty Financial Services fell the most at 0.20 per cent.

Market breadth was in favour of gainers as 2,103 stocks ended in the green, while 1,168 names settled with cuts. As many as 250 securities hit 52-week highs, mostly from the smallcap space. Meanwhile, 16 names hit 52-week lows, mostly from the microcap space. About 485 stocks hit upper circuit limits and 110 lower circuit limits.

European markets were trading lower. London-based FTSE was down 0.09 per cent while Paris and Frankfurt declined 0.23 per cent and 0.18 per cent, respectively. In Asia, barring Indonesia that rose 0.14 per cent, all markets closed with gains.