Investors fear that inflationary pressures may result in companies raising prices and their consequent impact on demand, thus resulting in a highly volatile trading session today.
The 30-share pack Sensex dropped 396.34 points or 0.65 per cent to close at 60,322.37. Its broader peer NSE Nifty declined 110.25 points or 0.61 per cent to 17,999.20.
“The domestic market started trading between gains and losses before slipping into deep red with heavy selling in banking and pharma stocks. RBI’s statement that equity market valuations are stretched added to the pressure, however, mid & smallcaps outperformed,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Market at a glance:
- PB Fintech climbs 11% after Capital Research and Management buys stake
- Sigachi Industries adds another 5%, hits upper circuit for 2nd day
- Tarsons Products subscribed over 3 times on Day 2
- Ruchi Soya gains 3% on strong Sept quarter earnings
- India VIX, barometer of volatility and fear, drops nearly 2%
Among the bluechip names, Maruti Suzuki was the top gainer, rising 7.28 per cent. M&M, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Tech Mahindra, Eicher Motors, Wipro and Bajaj Finserv were other gainers.
Shree Cement was the top loser in the Nifty pack, falling 3.19 per cent. Reliance Industries, Hindalco Industries, SBI, Tata Consumer, UltraTech Cement and NTPC were others that ended in the red.
“Among the sectors, the continuous underperformance of the banking pack is dragging the benchmark lower while others help the index to cap the damage. In the current scenario, it’s prudent to stay light and wait for clarity.”
Broader market indices ended mixed, outperforming their headline peers. Nifty Smallcap gained 0.50 per cent while Nifty Midcap dropped 0.27 per cent. Nifty 500, the broadest index on NSE, ended down 0.43 per cent.
SpiceJet, Balaji Amines, Sterlite Tech, Coforge, Trent and Bharat Forge were top gainers from the mid and smallcap indices, climbing in the range of 2-10 per cent.
Endurance Technologies, Manappuram Finance, Union Bank of India, Finer Organics, Carborundum Universal and CanFin Homes were the major losers from broader market space, falling in the range of 2-7 per cent.
Sectoral matrix was mixed on the NSE. Nifty Auto was the top gainer, up 2.48 per cent. Nifty IT followed with 0.49 per cent gains. Nifty PSU Bank was the top loser, down 2.14 per cent. Nifty Pharma and Nifty Bank also fell over a per cent.
Market breadth was in favour of the losers as 1,597 stocks ended in the green, while 1,735 names settled with cuts. As many as 190 securities hit 52-week highs, mostly from the smallcap space. Meanwhile, 40 names hit 52-week lows, mostly from the microcap space. About 360 stocks hit upper circuit limits and 240 lower circuit limits.
European markets were trading mixed. London-based FTSE was down 0.03 per cent while Paris and Frankfurt climbed 0.21 per cent and 0.21 per cent, respectively. In Asia, China, South Korea and Singapore closed in the red, while the rest ended in the green.
