Market Movers: Broader market rallies; ALL jumps; 157 stocks hit 52-week highs

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks struggled for direction on Thursday, and gave up early gains to close lower, as sentiment turned wary in the light of the rapidly rising coronavirus cases and growing confusion over US stimulus.

BSE’s 30-share Sensex shed 59 points to close at 38,310, while NSE’s 50-share Nifty dropped 8 points to close at 11,300.

The uncertainty in the market is likely to continue, said analysts.

“Uncertainty has emerged in global markets amid doubts over the US stimulus package and impact of the US-China trade meeting over the weekend. Valuation concerns over domestic stocks and continuing high rate of virus infections impacted the Indian market,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

“The market seems to be in a wait and watch mode, and investors are advised to tread cautiously and accumulate stocks,” he said.

Here is a lowdown of what happened in Thursday’s trade:
Ashok Leyland races ahead
Shares of the country’s second-largest truck maker, Ashok Leyland, surged 13.16 per cent to Rs 61 after the company said it sees large opportunity in the defence space as the government focuses on increasing local sourcing of defence equipment. In a call with analysts, the company laid out plans to tap the opportunity in defence business, talked about recovery in commercial vehicle and announced plan of debt reduction.

Bharti Airtel slips further
Telecom major Bharti Airtel closed 2.35 per cent lower at Rs 535.65 per share, but pared some of early losses on reports that it was an error on the part of MSCI when it reduced the stock weightage in its the MSCI India and MSCI EM indices by half.

Broader markets outperform
While the frontline indices displayed fatigue, the broader markets marched forward. BSE midcap and smallcap indices rose 1.59 per cent and 0.76 per cent, respectively, against a 0.15 per cent drop in the Sensex.

Stocks that hit 52-week highs
Some 157 stocks scaled 52-week highs on Thursday. They included Balkrishna Industries, Hindustan Aeronautics, HCL Technologies, Gujarat Gas, JP Associates and Jump Networks, among others.

Stocks that hit upper circuits
As many as 363 stocks hit their upper limits. They included Venky’s India, Lemontree, Eclerx Services, Shemaroo Entertainment and Aban Offshore, among others.

Where is Nifty headed
Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities, pointed out Nifty formed a small negative candle with minor upper and lower shadows, which indicated continuation of sideways rangebound movement. “The market (Nifty) is likely to move in the 11,375-11,225 range in the next session. Any failed up-move above 11,375 level could trigger some profit booking from the highs. Sector/stock specific movements could continue in the short term. Immediate support for Nifty is placed at 11,250,” he said.