Comments
Benchmark indices ended flat on Friday amid profit-booking after recording fresh all-time highs during the morning session.
Market opened on a positive note amid mixed global cues but erased all gains by mid-session, trading flat through the day, dragged by IT and Financials. Indices were sustained by gains in metals and pharma. However, it was a lacklustre day for trading on low volumes.
The BSE Sensex which recorded an all-time high of 53,290.81 closed at 53,140.06, down 18.79 points or 0.04 per cent. It hit a low of 52,997.09. The Nifty 50, after recording a new all-time high of 15,962.25, closed at 15,923.40, down 0.80 points or 0.01 per cent. It hit an intraday low of 15,882.60.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "The risk of profit booking is rising due to elevated performance and lack of direction from the western developed markets with flat performance recently. FIIs continue as net sellers in the domestic equity market during the past few days."
Breadth remains positive
The breadth of the market remained positive with 1,778 stocks advancing, 1,421 declining and 150 remaining unchanged on the BSE. As many as 495 securities hit the upper circuit and 191 the lower circuit; 501 hit their 52-week high while 20 touched a 52-week low.
Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities, said, “Domestic equities traded in a range-bound today with Nifty and Sensex hitting fresh all-time highs. However, profit-booking in IT after witnessing a sharp recovery in recent days followed by selling pressure in financials dragged Nifty. However, pharma stocks were in focus today followed by metals.”
“Notably, dovish remark of Federal Reserve Chairman Powell in his testimony despite a surge in inflation and soft bond yield in the USA in recent days offered comfort to global equities including India,” said Modi.
Investors will be focusing on the progress of monsoon, Q1-FY22 corporate earnings and Covid-19 positivity rates in the near term, according to analysts.
Divi’s Labs, Bharti Airtel, Ultratech Cement, Tata Steel and Powergrid were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while HCL Tech, Eicher Motors, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv and Adani Ports were the top laggards.
Pharma, realty and metals shine
On the sectoral front, metals, realty and pharma rallied while IT and financials faced selling pressure.
Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services were down 0.43 per cent and 0.25 per cent, respectively at closing. Nifty Private Bank was down 0.53 per cent while Nifty PSU Bank was down 0.38 per cent. Nifty IT was down 1.07 per cent.
Meanwhile, Nifty Metal was up 1.05 per cent while Nifty Pharma was up 1.16 per cent. Nifty Realty was up 1.14 per cent.
Broader indices
Broader indices extended gains while continuing to outperform the benchmarks.
Nifty Midcap 50 was up 0.47 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 1.84 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 0.45 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was up 0.38 per cent.
Notably, the volatility index fell below 12. It softened 4.60 per cent to 11.71.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.