Domestic equity markets extended their weakness to the second straight session on Thursday amid muted cues from the Asian Markets. Traders are expecting another rate hike by the US Federal Reserve later this month after the US House of Representatives approved a debt ceiling and budget cuts package.
For the day, the 30-share pack BSE Sensex dropped 193.70 points, or 0.31 per cent, to settle at 62,428.54, while NSE's Nifty50 declined 46.65 points, or 0.25 per cent, to end the session at 18,487.75. Broader outperformed the headline peers and settled higher. Fear gauge India VIX dropped more than 3 per cent to 11.60-level.
Markets traded volatile and ended marginally lower on the weekly expiry day. After the flat start, the Nifty oscillated in a narrow range and finally settled around the day’s low at 18487.75 levels. Meanwhile, a mixed trend was witnessed on the sectoral front wherein banking and financials traded under pressure, said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research at Religare Broking. "The recent movement in the index indicates a pause and dip in the banking and financials is causing turbulence however some stability in other sectors is offsetting the damage. Going ahead, a decisive break below 43,500 in the banking index might deteriorate the market mood. We reiterate our view to maintain the positive bias while keeping a check on position," he said.
On a sectoral front, Nifty Private Bank and Nifty Financial Service indices were the biggest laggards. Nifty FMCG, Metal and Oil & Gas index also settled in the red. Among the gainers, Nifty Realty and Pharma index jumped over a per cent, each, while Nifty Healthcare, Media and PSU Bank indices were the other key gainers.
In the Nifty50 pack, Coal India plunged about 5 per cent over OFS buzz, while Kotak Mahindra Bank continued to weaken another 4 per cent. Bharti Airtel was down 3 per cent, while SBI Life Insurance Company and HDFC Life Insurance Company shed 2 per cent for the day.
Among the gainers, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises surged over 4 per cent on the back of a positive outlook by the brokerage firms, while Divis Labs gained about 3 per cent. Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp gained about 2 per cent, each, after auto sales data for the month of May. Despite challenges in the global economies, the domestic market displayed better than estimated Q4 earnings growth, along with 7.2 per cent GDP growth in FY23, adding buoyancy to the market during the week, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. "However, today the market closed with a marginal negative bias in which banks witnessed heavy profit booking. Investors turned cautious in anticipation of inflationary pressure in the US after raising the US debt ceiling. The US 10-year bond yield inched higher; the market is looking ahead to the trajectory of US interest rates to get more visibility," he said. A total of 3,661 shares were traded on BSE on Tuesday, of which 2,077 settled with gains. 1,460 stocks ended the session higher while 124 shares remained unchanged. A total of 237 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 160 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day.
In the broader markets, Nureca hit an upper circuit of 20 per cent, while DCM Nouvelle gained 13 per cent. SJS Enterprises rose more than 11 per cent and R Systems International surged 11 per cent each. EPL, Westlife Foodworks and Sobha were up 7-10 per cent, each.
Among the losers, Atul Auto dropped 6 per cent after muted sales in May, while Speciality Restaurants and Suzlon Energy were down 5 per cent, each. Pokarna, Kellton Tech Solutions and Anupan Rasaya were also down up to 5 per cent.
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