Sensex erases 250-point loss, ends flat; Covid-19 cases, weak global cues weigh

NEW DELHI: After trudging below the flatline for much of the day, the bulls managed to give domestic equity indices one final nudge in the last hour of the trade on Friday, as they ended the week with some gains.

Fast-rising Covid-19 cases are creating headwinds for an already fatigued market. India is now reporting the largest daily caseloads in the world and is fast approaching the patient count of Brazil, the second most affected country in the world. A rise in US-China tension also played dampener.

The 30-share pack Sensex erased over 250-point loss to end 15 points higher at 38,041 amid gains in select index stocks, while broader NSE Nifty added 16 points to end at 11,216. Broader market indices, however, saw greater buying interest with Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap climbing over a per cent each.

“The unrelenting pace of virus infections and other uncertainties led to the benchmark indices ending flat today with volatile trades. Global cues were also mostly negative, after Asian markets ended in losses following US actions on popular Chinese apps, and anticipating retaliatory action from China,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

He, however, finds a silver lining in the episode and believed some of the money intended for Chinese companies may find their way to Indian ones if the ban gets effected.


In the midcap space, Honeywell Automation, RBL Bank, Bayer Crop and Emami were the biggest gainers, jumping 8-15 per cent. In the smallcap space, buying was concentrated in Electrotherm, Anant Raj, RattanIndia Power, GMM Pflauder and Triveni that soared 18-20 per cent.

Among blue chips, Asian Paints was the biggest Nifty gainer, up over 4 per cent, followed by 1-4 per cent gains in Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank and Maruti Suzuki. Titan and IT majors HCL Tech and Infosys were the biggest drags.

Investors were also unforgiving and dumped M&M shares after the company reported a 97 per cent drop in net profits for the pandemic affected June quarter. The stock closed down 1.07 per cent at Rs 603.


Mindspace Business Parks REIT, only the second such listed entity, debuted on BSE at a premium of 10.50 per cent from issue price but closed slightly lower than the listing price at Rs 303.87.

Overall, market breadth was positive, with 1,661 stocks closing in the green and 1,041 ending the day in the red. About 190 stocks hit the 52-week high level, mostly from smallcap and microcap space. A total of 374 stocks hit the upper circuit during the day.

Among sectors, IT and pharma were under pressure with respective NSE indices closing 1 and 0.6 per cent down. Meanwhile, banks auto and FMCG names saw buying demand, taking their respective sectoral indices higher.

FPIs bought equities worth $1.2 billion over the past five trading sessions while DIIs sold shares worth $156 million worth in the same period.


Globally, Chinese stocks led losers in Asia and its currency slumped after Trump issued the executive orders to ban WeChat and TikTok. MSCI's broadest index of world stocks fell 0.2 per cent after up four consecutive days of gains. It was less than 3 per cent away from a late February peak.

Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1 per cent, with mainland Chinese indexes down more than 1 per cent each. European stocks opened lower, with major indices down between 0.2 per cent to 0.4 per cent in early trading.

Let’s prepare for next week

• Market analysts believe the next week will be dictated by earnings specific actions, and they advise to ride the rally as long as it continues, however, keep an eye on trends os you are not caught surprised.

• On Monday, Bank of Baroda, Care Ratings, Caplin Point, Cochin Shipyard, Ipca Labs, Power Grid, Titan and Ujjivan Financial Services are scheduled to come out with their June quarter earnings.

• World’s largest economy, the US is expected to finalize a second round of stimulus package, which may lift overall sentiment of the US market and in turn markets across the globe, said Jimeet Modi, Founder & CEO Samco Group.