Indian equity benchmarks settled the calendar year 2023 with double-digit gains. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, the 30-share BSE Sensex pack gained 18.10 per cent and the broader NSE Nifty index moved 19.42 per cent higher. Despite the mentioned rise, Sensex slipped 170 points or 0.23 per cent to close at 72,240 during the last trading session of 2023 on Friday and Nifty fell 47 points or 0.22 per cent to end at 21,731.
Although, mid and smallcap shares continued to outperform the blue-chips as the Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.80 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 rose 0.61 per cent. Fear gauge India VIX fell 4.21 per cent to 14.50.
Nine out of the 15 sectoral indices on NSE settled in the red. Sub-indices Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Bank and Nifty IT underperformed the Nifty index by falling 0.97 per cent, 0.45 per cent and 0.45 per cent, respectively.
On the stock-specific front, BPCL was the top loser in the Nifty pack as the stock cracked 3.18 per cent to settle at Rs 451. SBI, ONGC, Infosys and Coal India were also among the top laggards.
In contrast, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Nestle India and Adani Enterprises were among the top gainers on Nifty.
The overall market breadth was slightly positive as 1,990 shares advanced while 1,794 declined on BSE.
On BSE, index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries (RIL), Infosys, ICICI Bank, SBI, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ITC were among the top drags.
Also, shares of HPCL, Privi Speciality Chemicals, BLS International Services, BPCL, Oil India, IndiaMART InterMESH and Indian Oil Corpoeration plunged up to 4.56 per cent.
On the flipside, BSE 500 stocks such as Vodafone Idea, Kalpataru Projects International, Indus Towers, Emami, 3M India and Sun Pharma Advanced zoomed up to 21 per cent.
Nifty outlook
"Nifty remained sideways during the session, fluctuating within the range of 21,650-21,750. A doji pattern has formed on daily charts, indicating indecisiveness in the market. This sentiment requires confirmation through a decisive breakout above 21,750 or a breakdown below 21,650. If it falls below 21,650, Nifty could potentially decline towards 21,500. Conversely, if there's sustained trading above 21,750, the index might aim for 22,000," said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.
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