Sensex down 186 pts at closing, Nifty below 15,800 on profit-booking

Notwithstanding the relief measures announced by the Finance Minister yesterday, the benchmark indices on Tuesday closed in the red amid profit-booking across counters. Weak global markets also affected the traders' sentiment.

Market, which opened on a flat note, extended losses in the second half, dragged by metals, auto and financials.

The BSE Sensex closed at 52,549.66, down 185.93 points or 0.35 per cent. It hit an intraday high of 52,816.42 and a low of 52,477.77. Nifty 50 closed at 15,748.45, down 66.25 points or 0.42 per cent. It hit an intraday high of 15,835.90 and a low of 15,724.05.

Breadth remains positive

The breadth of the market, however, continued to remain positive with 1,644 stocks advancing, 1,587 declining and 120 remaining unchanged on the BSE. As many as 493 securities hit the upper circuit and 261 the lower circuit; 417 hit their 52-week high while 15 touched a 52-week low.

Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities, said, “Domestic equities extended losses as profit booking in financials, auto and metals dragged benchmark indices down. Further, weak cues from global markets also weighed on sentiments.”

“Profit booking was visible across the counters including mid-cap and small-cap stocks. Notably, a sharp rally in auto stocks in the last couple of days made investors book some profit ahead of June sales volumes,” added Modi.

PowerGrid, Cipla, Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever and Divi’s Lab were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while IOC, ONGC, Hindalco, Kotak Bank and ICICI Bank were the top laggards.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "Despite the government’s stimulus package to revive stressed sectors, domestic equities continued to trade weak due to new coronavirus outbreaks in Asia. Extension of emergency credit guarantee scheme to MSMEs and subsidised financing to small borrowers will be a boost to the Microfinance and NBFC sectors. Amid a broad-based selling in the market, the healthcare sector managed to remain positive due to the extended government support."

FMCG, Pharma extend gains

On the sectoral front, only FMCG and Pharma managed to extend gains with all other sectoral indices closing in the red.

Nifty Metal was down 1.22 per cent while Nifty Auto was down 0.91 per cent. Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services were down 0.99 and 0.73 per cent, respectively. Nifty PSU Bank also erased the previous session's gains and was down 1.48 per cent at closing while Nifty Private Bank was down 1.03 per cent.

Meanwhile, Nifty FMCG was up 0.50 per cent while Nifty Pharma was up 0.58 per cent.

Mid, small-cap stocks decline

All broader indices closed in the red as mid-cap and small-cap stocks also witnessed selling pressure.

Nifty Midcap 50 was down 0.61 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 0.25 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap index was down 0.42 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap index was down 0.07 per cent.

The volatility index fell 2.98 per cent to 13.

COMMENT NOW