Sensex wipes off 200-point gains\, ends 40 points higher; RIL\, HDFC Bank top drags

NEW DELHI: Stock market bulls overcame the late onslaught of the bears and managed to lift benchmark indices higher for the fifth day straight in the ending minutes of a volatile Thursday session.

August derivative contracts also expired which led to increased volatility as traders rolled over their position. Investors dumped Reliance Industries and private banks in the afternoon trade that dragged bluechip indices lower.

The 30-share pack Sensex dropped over 200 points from the day’s high, and closed up 40 points or 0.1 per cent at 39,113. Its NSE peer Nifty added 10 points or 0.08 per cent to close at 11,559.

Market at a glance:

Meanwhile, investors will now look forward to the highly anticipated US Fed Chair Jerome Powell address later in the day, where he is widely expected to drop some hints about how the US central bank is visualising the rollback of the massive Covid-19 relief package announced over the past five months.

"The Indian benchmark indices showcased a strong opening, and although it gave up some of its gains, still managed to close with a positive bias. Global cues were mostly negative, ahead of expected policy statements by the US Fed Reserve chairman and also due to the ongoing US-China trade tensions,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Among bluechip names, IndusInd Bank saw the most buying attention, rising 6.53 per cent to Rs 604.70. M&M, Tata Motors, SBI, Grasim Industries, HDFC, Sun Pharma and Axis Bank were other top gainers, rising 2-4 per cent.

ONGC along with Reliance Industries was the top Nifty loser, down 1.35 per cent each, pulling the index lower. Selling in Bajaj Auto, Zee Entertainment and Coal India also put strain on the flagship index.

Nifty snip 27Agencies
Top 5 Nifty gainers & losers (Source: NSE)
Meanwhile, there was no dearth in demand for mid and smallcap stocks. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indices advanced for the ninth straight session, up 0.53 per cent and 0.12 per cent, respectively.

Stocks from realty space dominated the top gainer list in the broader market space with Prestige Estates, Oberoi Realty, Godrej Properties, Blue Star, Century Ply and Century Textile among top mid and smallcap gainers, surging in the range of 6-9 per cent.

On the other hand, Endurance Technologies, which was among the top gainers on Wednesday, was the top loser down over 5 per cent. Jindal Steel, Whirlpool of India, Affle India and Firstsource Solutions were among other top losers.

"We suggest booking some profit as the benchmark may see a pause after testing the immediate hurdle at 11,600. We reiterate our view to focus on the selection of stocks and overnight risk management."

— Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Realty surged 6.4 per cent thanks to up to 10 per cent gains in DLF and Prestige Estates, along with others. The buying happened after the Maharashtra government slashed stamp duty by about half.

“We could see more such policy moves by other state governments,” said Vikaas Sachdeva - Chief Executive Officer of Emkay Investment Managers.

Nifty Auto and Nifty Bank closed with gains of about 1 per cent each, a fifth straight day of close in the green. NIfty IT, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Energy and Nifty PSU Bank closed down about a percent from their day’s high level.

Market breadth was nuetral with 1,430 stocks ending in the green while 1,439 names closing with cuts. As many as 187 securities hit 52-week highs, mostly from smallcap space. Meanwhile, 59 names hit 52-week lows, mostly from microcap space. About 405 stocks hit the upper circuit and 233 lower circuit limit.

Globally, European markets traded with minor cuts. UK’s FTSE was down 0.19 per cent, while France’s CAC and Germany’s DAX were 0.47 per cent and 0.36 per cent, respectively. Stock markets in South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong closed down up to a per cent. Whereas China, Indonesia and Thailand closed in the green.

Let’s prepare for tomorrow: