Taking Stock: Sensex, Nifty fall from record highs to close in the red

Indian benchmark indices the Sensex and the Nifty scaled fresh lifetime highs on April 9 but failed to hold on the gains as profit booking ahead of the release of key inflation figures for India and the US played spoilsport.

At close, the Sensex settled 58.80 points, or 0.08 percent, lower at 74,683.70, falling from its record high of 75,124.28 touched early morning. The Nifty also pared to slipped from its new peak of 22,768.40 to close 24.50 points, or 0.11 percent lower, at 22,641.80.

Top Nifty gainers were Apollo Hospitals, Hindalco, ICICI Bank and Infosys, while losers were Titan Co, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India and Reliance Industries.

As for sectors, auto, capital goods, FMCG, energy, infra, oil and gas and pharma closed with 0.3-1 percent losses, while banks, metals and realty indices were rose 0.3-1 percent.

The BSE midcap index also slipped 0.5 percent and the smallcap index shed 0.2 percent.

Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 300 percent was seen in Gland Pharma, Premier Explosives and Exide Industries.

A long buildup was seen in Exide, Hind Copper, Voltas and InfoEdge, while a short buildup was seen in REC, Granules India, PNB and Sun TV.

More than 200 stocks touched their 52-week highs, including Aarti Industries, Abans Holdings, Ajmera Realty, Aster DM Health, Avenue Supermarts, BASF, Bharat Electronics, Castrol, Exide, GAIL, Glenmark, HEG, Hind Zinc, ICICI Bank and others . Click to view full list

Outlook for April 10

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities

Nifty opened higher but struggled to withstand the selling pressure at elevated levels. On the hourly chart, the RSI (14) indicates bearish divergence, signaling a potential shift in price momentum towards the downside. Immediate support is observed at 22,600; a decisive drop below this level could drive the index towards 22,400. Conversely, resistance is evident at 22,770 on the higher end.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd

Sensex & Nifty scaled new lifetime highs on the auspicious day of Gudi Padwa, but markets erased all its gains to end flat with a negative bias on select profit taking. While fundamentals continue to be strong, stretched valuations will allow investors to book profit at regular intervals. Investors would still be mindful of rising crude prices and US Fed’s inability to cut rates amid stubborn inflation, which could fuel uncertainty going ahead.

Aditya Gaggar, Director of Progressive Shares

Nifty50 began the day at another record level of 22,700 but failed to keep the strong momentum going and remained sideways in the morning trade. Profit booking in the 2nd half of the trading session pulled the index lower to settle the day at 22,642.75 with a minuscule loss of 23.55 points.

With gains of more than 1 percent, the metal sector was the star performer while the realty segment extended its journey towards the north, and on the flip side, Media and PSU Banks were added to the list of underperformers.

Divergence was seen in the broader market performance where smallcaps managed to end in the green while Midcaps marginally underperformed. On the daily timeframe, the index has made a bearish candle.

Still, the overall uptrend is intact and correction if any, will provide better opportunities to enter at the lower levels. A level of 22,530 offers strong support while immediate resistance is placed at 22,780.