Benchmark indices close in the red

Benchmark indices which were trading in the green on Thursday afternoon, gave up their gains in the closing session due to a fresh sell-off in equities.

Sensex had opened at 48,524.36 against the previous day’s close of 48,174.06. It hit an intraday high of 48,558.34. It gave up all its gains touched an intraday low of 48,037.87 before ending at 48,093.32, down by 80.74 points.

Similarly, the Nifty after opening sharply up at 14,253.75, ranged between 14,256.25 and 14,123.10 before ending lower by 8.90 points at 14,137.35.

Ignoring the violence on Capitol hill, most Asian markets remained bullish. Overnight, the Dow and the S&P 500 had fared well soaring to all-time highs following a Democratic sweep in Georgia as investors piled into financial and industrial stocks.

Telecom, Metal and Realty stocks shined in the first half. The S&P BSE Telecom index stood at 1,368.69, up 39.72 points or 2.994.01 per cent. While the S&P BSE Metal index was up 455.50 points or 3.70 per cent at 12,774.31. The S&P BSE Realty index stood at 2,549.27, up 30.98 points or 1.23 per cent.

The Nifty FMCG, IT and Pharma were down 0.86 per cent, 0.66 per cent and 0.44 per cent respectively.

S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities said, "After the Democrats won the Georgia Senate, Global Cues were positive in Morning Trade. Afternoon Trade, however, did see profit-taking in FMCG stocks despite which we saw a close above 48K led by Financials & Metals. The broader markets witnessed demand for Housing Finance, Realty and Liquor stocks."

However, Midcap and Smallcap indices outperformed on Thursday. 

“Domestic equities remained firm today mainly supported by strong global cues. Strong rebound in Banks, Auto and Realty index supported markets, while metals stocks outpaced all. However, it was midcap and small-cap stocks, which stole the show once again and investors continued to chase this space owing to wider valuations gap and improved prospects of earnings recovery,” said Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities.

Nifty Midcap 50 and Nifty Smallcap 50 were up by 2.08 per cent and 1.46 per cent, respectively. Among sectoral indices, Metal and Realty stocks gained on the market. Nifty Metal was up by 3.82 per cent while Nifty Realty gained 1.35 per cent on the market.

Tata Steel, Hindalco, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports and IndusInd Bank gained the most on Nifty while Nestle India, HDFC Life, Hindustan Lever and Titan were the top laggards.

Bharti Airtel and IndusInd Bank were also the top gainers on Sensex. 

“An increased possibility of higher fiscal stimulus in the USA after Democrats taking control of both houses in the Congress bodes well for emerging markets including India in the medium term. Further, given current status of global economy and stance of global central bankers with weak dollar, we believe FPIs flow should continue to remain favourable in the near to medium term perspective. 3QFY21 corporate earnings and Union Budget are crucial for the markets,” said Modi. 

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