Indian equity benchmarks on Monday traded lower, extending their fall for the second straight session amid weak global cues. The indices, however, trimmed their losses, led by a rebound in technology stocks ahead of the quarterly earnings season.
Investors turned cautious after a solid US jobs report strengthened the case for the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates aggressively.
On the domestic front, market participants also awaited September's retail inflation data, due to be released on Wednesday.
Geopolitical tensions added to the uncertainty as Russia bombed cities across Ukraine, killing civilians and destroying infrastructure in apparent revenge strikes after President Vladimir Putin declared an explosion on the bridge to Crimea to be a terrorist attack.
Stocks skidded lower in Asia. S&P futures fell 0.14 per cent, while Nasdaq futures cracked 0.25 per cent, indicating a cautious start for Wall Street.
Back home, the benchmark BSE Sensex slipped 200 points or 0.34 per cent to settle at 57,991 today, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 74 points or 0.43 per cent lower to close at 17,241.
Here are the share market highlights:
"Nifty remained volatile during the day, it found resistance around 17,300; however, the index failed to fall below 17,000. The trend is likely to remain sideways in the near term. Over the near term, the Nifty may move within the range of 17,000-17,300. A decisive fall below 17,000 may trigger a selling pressure in the market. On the higher end, a decisive move above 17,300 may induce a rally towards 17,600," said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.
"The Bank Nifty index yesterday managed to hold the support of 38,500 on the downside which should act as make or break. The index on the upside faces stiff resistance at 39,500 where aggressive call writing has been witnessed. The index needs to break this range on either side for trending moves. The index within the range remains in a buy on dip mode with immediate support at the 38,800 level," said Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivative Analyst at LKP Securities.
On the technical front, Nifty's biggest make-or-break support is now placed at 17,000 mark and below the same the index could slip quickly to the 16,747-16,775 zone, said Prashanth Tapse - Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.
"Fear of an aggressive rate hike by the Fed on the back of strong employment data in the US, disrupted the global equity trend. Inflation in the US is forecasted to stay high given low supply and high demand scenarios. To bring some parity in the economy, the Fed will have to target to lower demand by increasing the unemployment rate, which is not factored by the market. In addition, rising crude prices and depreciating rupee is increasing the risk of imported inflation in India, affecting the domestic market," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Shares of Balkrishna Industries, an off-highway tyre manufacturer, have corrected 27 per cent from its 52-week high level. While the scrip has made a few attempts to recover in the last few months, but failed to carry the momentum forward. (Read more)
Shares of Atul Auto rose over 14 per cent today after the board of the company approved a preferential issue of Rs 115 crore worth of warrants to promoters and non-promoters of the company, including investor Vijay Kishanlal Kedia. (Read more)
The overall market breadth stood negative as 1,444 shares advanced while 2,117 declined on BSE. The market capitalization (m-cap) of BSE-listed companies stood at Rs 274.35 lakh crore.
14 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- settled in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty FMCG and Nifty Consumer Durables underperformed the NSE platform by falling as much as 1.10 per cent and 1.21 per cent, respectively. On the flipside, Nifty IT rose 1.06 per cent today.
Mid- and small-cap shares finished on a lower as Nifty Midcap 100 fell 0.95 per cent and small-cap shed 0.46 per cent.
On the stock-specific front, Tata Motors was the top Nifty loser as the stock cracked 3.79 per cent to close at Rs 396.55. Tata Consumer Products, Hero MotoCorp, Asian Paints and ITC T were also among the laggards. In contrast, Axis Bank, TCS, HDFC Life, Wipro and Eicher Motors were among the top gainers.
Sensex falls 200 points or 0.34 per cent to close at 57,991, Nifty moves 74 points or 0.43 per cent lower to settle at 17,241
Shares of Hero MotoCorp today declined nearly 3 per cent, in line with a weaker trend in domestic equity benchmarks. The stock traded 2.91 per cent lower at Rs 2,548.60 during late trading session. During the day, it touched an intraday low of Rs 2,531.40 on NSE. (Read more)
Shares of Easy Trip Planners climbed over 6 per cent in Monday's trade after its board approved a bonus issue, in addition to stock split. (Read more)
Driven by strong retail demand, Tracxn Technologies on Monday attracted 11 per cent bids for its initial public offer (IPO) within the first three hours of the Day 1 bidding process. (Read more)
Sensex falls 256 points or 0.44 per cent to trade at 57,935, Nifty moves 92 points or 0.53 per cent lower to trade at 17,223
Shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance crashed 10 per cent today amid reports that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has moved the Supreme Court to challenge the Delhi High Court's order ruling out a probe against the home finance company. The stock tanked up to 9.97 per cent to Rs 121.85 in early trade, its biggest single day decline since May 11, 2022, against the previous close of Rs 135.35 on BSE. (Read more)
12 out of the 15 sector indices in the NSE platform were trading in the red. Nifty FMCG, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Auto were underperforming the index by falling as much as 1.07 per cent, 0.80 per cent and 0.60 per cent, respectively. In contrast, Nifty IT and Nifty Bank rebounded as much as 0.45 per cent and 0.23 per cent, each.
Sensex slips 138 points or 0.24 per cent to trade at 58,054, Nifty moves 60 points or 0.35 per cent lower to trade at 17,255
Maruti Suzuki, India's largest passenger carmaker, looks set to top Nifty profit growth chart in the September quarter, largely on a low base. Brokerages expect the auto major to log up to 356 per cent year-on-year (YoY) surge in profit, the highest among Nifty constituents, on a 40-45 per cent rise in sales, with at least 500 basis points expansion in year-on-year (YoY) margin. (Read more)
Shares of homegrown auto major Tata Motors fell over 4 per cent today after the firm's UK arm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported a 4.9 per cent decline in retail sales in Q2. (Read more)