European equities were weak, tracking the weakness seen in most Asian markets earlier in the day and amid strength in the US dollar index, which was up 0.3 per cent and inching closer to the 91-mark.
Nifty ended 10 points lower at 15,163.30, while Sensex closed at 51,544.30, up 13 points.
In the broader market, smallcap stocks continued to display strength as the Nifty Smallcap 100 index ended 0.2 per cent higher.
Here are the major movers in today’s trade:
burns on earnings, demerger disappointment
Shares of the cigarette maker fell over 4 per cent as investors were unimpressed by the company’s December quarter earnings. Besides the muted recovery in the cigarette business, investors were also disappointed by the lack of announcement of a demerger of the FMCG and cigarette businesses.
Aviation stocks fly on price hike
Shares of aviation companies rose today after the government raised the fare cap on commercial flights by up to 30 per cent, which is expected to boost the revenues of these companies in view of the rising demand.
surges on strong Q3 show
Shares of the auto ancillary company jumped 10 per cent after it reported stellar earnings for the quarter ended December. The company’s margin performance in the standalone entity and the subsidiary were much better than Street’s estimate.
Ashok Leyland slumps post earnings
Shares of Ashok Leyland slumped 5 per cent as the company’s earnings for the December quarter disappointed. The company reported a net loss of Rs 19 crore as against analysts’ estimate of Rs 100 crore net profit.
Adani Ports surges on optimism for volumes
Shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone rose over 3 per cent as analysts were gung-ho about the company’s volume growth story in the wake of normalisation of the economy and government’s focus on exports.
What gave buy signal?
Despite the tepid market activity, as many as 56 stocks gave buy signal based on MACD indicators including Tata Motors, Laurus Labs, Asian Paints, Symphony, and SRF.
What’s ahead for the market?
Traders continued to sell the out-of-money call options of the Nifty 50 index expiring on Thursday suggesting that they see limited upside potential in the market next week. Nifty’s 15,300 and 15,500 strike price call option saw aggressive selling in the session.
“Since the risk-reward ratio is skewed, a buy on intraday corrections would be a prudent way to enter long positions,” said Manish Hathiramani, technical analyst at Deen Dayal Investments.
