Overnight gains in the US markets, a deal between KKR and Reliance Retail and India and China decision to not send more troops to the contested border supported the market but reemerging virus hotspots in Europe and rising worries over the pace of economic recovery were major drags.
iStockBoth the benchmark indices - Sensex and Nifty - posted their longest losing streaks since March 2.
NEW DELHI: After a volatile session during which domestic equity indices moved in a wide range, they finally settled around the flatline with a negative bias, extending the losing run to the fifth straight session.
Overnight gains in the US markets, a deal between KKR and Reliance Retail and India and China decision to not send more troops to the contested border supported the market but reemerging virus hotspots in Europe and rising worries over the pace of economic recovery were major drags.
The 30-share pack Sensex settled down 65.66 points or 0.17 per cent at 37,668.42. It moved in a range of 827 points with high at 38,140.07 and low at 37,313.09. Its broader peer NSE Nifty fell 21.80 points or 0.20 per cent to 11,131.85. Both the benchmark indices - Sensex and Nifty - posted their longest losing streaks since March 2.
"Indian benchmark indices traded in a range before finally ending the day with a negative bias. The uncertainty and lack of direction was clear in the market trend, which was actually supported by gains in RIL and HDFC Bank. The re-emergence of virus infections around the world has put doubts on the global economic recovery,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
GMM Pfaudler falls further 10% as OFS opens for retail investors; subscribed 0.77x
Telcos slump as Jio starts new tariff war; BSE Telecon falls over 7%
Broader market underperforms; Nifty Midcap falls for fifth day
Media, pharma, PSU Bank biggest sectoral losers; realty top gainer
98 stocks at 52-week highs, mostly from IT sector: Fistsource, Hexaware, Infosys, Mindtree, Mphasis and Persistent Systems top names
Reemergence of virus hotspots in Western world has again put coronavirus in focus. Besides that investors will track the movement in European and US markets overnight to get a clue on how domestic indices will behave on Thursday, which also happens to be a monthly expiry day.
Among bluehip indices, Axis Bank was the top gainer on Wednesday, rising 2.43 per cent to Rs 422. Coal India, GAIL, HDFC Bank, HUL, Infosys, Nestle India and Britannia Industries were other top gainers, up 1-3 per cent.
Bharti Infratel was the biggest loser among Nifty constituents, down 8.26 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel that slumped 8.16 per cent after its competitor Jio announced aggressive postpaid plans to attract high ARPU customers. Tata Steel, Zee Entertainment, IndusInd Bank, NTPC and Power Grid were among other top losers, down 2-4 per cent.
Agencies
Broader market indices underperformed their headline peers. Nifty Smallcap snapped its five day losing streak, gaining 0.1 per cent. But Nifty Midcap extended the losing streak to the fifth day, falling 0.33 per cent. Nifty 500 dropped 0.21 per cent.
Prestige Estates Projects, Tata Power, PNB Housing Finance, Kajaria Ceramics, Firstsource Solutions and Persistent Systems were among the major gainers of mid and smallcap indices, rising in the range of 4-6 per cent.
On the other hand, Jubilant Life Sciences, Sun TV, Future Retail, JM Financials, Birla Corporations and Laurus Labs were among the biggest broader market losers, down in the range of 4-8 per cent.
"In the present scenario, we feel it’s more prudent to focus on the accumulation of quality stocks on dips."
— Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking.
Nifty Media was the biggest loser among sector indices, dragged by heavyweight Zee Entertainment. It fell 2.37 per cent followed by Nifty Pharma and Nifty PSU Bank that skidded around 1.5 per cent. Nifty Realty was the biggest gainer, up 0.79 per cent.
Market breadth was in favour of the losers with 1,218 stocks ending in the green while 1,415 names shutting shop with cuts. As many as 98 securities hit 52-week highs, mostly from the smallcap space. Meanwhile, 66 names hit 52-week lows, mostly from the microcap space. About 200 stocks hit upper circuit limit and 315 lower circuit limit.
European markets were trading with gains as low-level buying continued. Shares in London were up 2.18 per cent while Paris and Frankfurt were up 1.77 per cent and 1.58 per cent, respectively. Asian shares were mixed with Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia closing in the red while China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore ending the day in the green.
Let’s prepare for tomorrow:
Angel Broking IPO: Thursday is the last day for applying to Angel Broking IPO. Meanwhile, Mazagon Dock will announce the launch of its IPO.
Global cues: Market participants will keep an eye on European and US markets as the movement will give a cue on how stocks may trade in India.
F&O expiry: Monthly futures contract will expire tomorrow, which may induce volatility in the market.
iStock
Agencies
Get Unlimited Access to The Economic Times
