Market ended its two-day rally, closing on a negative note due to profit-booking.
After trading marginally lower in the first half, indices slipped further in the second half, dragged by metal and auto. Weak global cues also impacted market sentiments.
The BSE Sensex slipped below the 50,000-mark closing at 49,902.64, down 290.69 points or 0.58 per cent. It hit an intra-day high of 50,279.01 and a low of 49,831.4. Nifty 50 closed at 15,030.15, down 77.95 points or 0.52 per cent. It hit an intra-day high of 15,133.40 and a low of 15,008.85.
The breadth of the market remained positive with 1,794 stocks advancing, 1,264 declining and 174 remaining unchanged on the BSE. As many as 437 securities hit the upper circuit and 154 the lower circuit; 309 hit their 52-week high while 20 touched 52-week low.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "The recent sharp rally has triggered some caution for the near-term. The global market was tentative ahead of the announcement of Fed minutes, this was mirrored in the domestic market, though it is not expected to be hawkish. Optimism gained from declining covid cases resisted a sharp correction in domestic market."
Coal India, Cipla, Sun Pharma, UPL and Nestle India were among the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC and JSW Steel were among the top laggards.
Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities, said, “Domestic equities corrected today after recording sharp upswing in last two days. Notably, profit booking was visible in most counters. However, benchmark Nifty continued to trade above 15,000 levels throughout the day.”
“Investors will continue to focus on trajectory of daily caseload and vaccination ramp up in the country in the near term,” added Modi.
Sectoral and broader indices
On the sectoral front, a majority of indices were in the red. Pharma stocks rebounded sharply as metal, auto and financials lagged.
Nifty Pharma was up 1.22 per cent. Nifty Realty was up 2.15 per cent.
Meanwhile, Nifty Metal was down 0.92 per cent while Nifty Auto was down 0.73 per cent. Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services were down 0.70 per cent and 0.98 per cent, respectively.
Nifty PSU Bank managed to retain gains and was up 0.24 per cent.
As for the broader indices, Nifty Midcap 50 was down 0.05 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 0.73 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 0.53 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was up 0.35 per cent. Notably, the volatility index rose 0.40 per cent to 19.32.
“Volatility index also remained below 20 levels, which continues to augur well. Further, strong buying was visible in midcap and smallcap stocks, as concerns of sharp earning downgrade appears to be fading with early sign of decline in second wave of daily caseload,” said Modi.