Sensex, Nifty end volatile session with losses; Midcap, smallcap indices gain, beat benchmarks

tock markets fluctuated between gains and losses for most of the trading session.

Sensex, Nifty ended a volatile trading session down in the red with marginal losses, snapping a gaining streak of two days. S&P BSE Sensex ended 95 points lower as it gave up 39,00 mark. The 50-stock Nifty ended at 11,527. Stock markets fluctuated between gains and losses for most of the trading session. Analysts say markets witnessed tepid volumes owing to the new margin rules brought by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Midcap and smallcap indices were up, once again outperforming benchmark indices. Index heavyweights dragged benchmarks down.

Heavyweights bleed: Stocks such as ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Industries, ended the day in the red, pulling indices lower. Financials contributed in pulling indices lower with heavyweights like HDFC twins, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Axis Bank all ending the day in the red. 

Midcap, Smallcap indices gain: Once again the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices outperformed the benchmark and so did the NSE Nifty midcap indices. Nifty Midcap 50 was up 1.31%, while Nifty Midcap 100 was up 0.85%. Even Nifty Next 50, Nifty 100, and Nifty 500 ended with gains.

Economic indicators still weak: The services PMI continued to shrink for the sixth straight month in August, beating the market expectations, the services PMI rose to 41.8 in the month of August from 34.2 in July. “Domestically, data emerged that the services sector had contracted for the 6th consecutive month, in spite of phased reopening of the economy in the last 2 months. This has led to worries that the comeback, foreseen for the economy, could be long drawn out. Investors advised to remain light and keep booking profits,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Top gainers: Titan shares ended almost 6% higher, followed by Tech Mahindra, Nestle India, and Maruti Suzuki. Aditya Birla Capital was up 12%, Varroc and UBl were the other top BSE Midcap gainers. HFCL, Suprajit Engineering were the best performing smallcap constituents. 

Top drags: ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel were the top losers on BSE Sensex. Among BSE Midcap constituents, Future Retail was down 10%, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail was down 4%. IndiaMART InterMest, Techno Electric Engineering, and Voltam were the worst performing stocks on BSE Smallcap index. 

Volumes hit by new rules: Experts said that trading volumes were lower, helped by the new SEBI margin trading rules as expected. “Volumes on the NSE were lower than recent average but in line with that of the previous day. IT, Pharma, Auto and FMCG indices rose, while Bank and Metal indices fell. The Midcap index ended with gains of 0.9% while the smallcap index gained 0.7%,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.