Domestic equity markets settled flat, marginally lower, on Thursday amid the expiry of the weekly F&O contracts. The benchmark indices gave up the early gains to remain range-bound for the day, seesawing between positive and negative territories. Action in the primary markets attracted all the attention for the day. For the day, BSE's Sensex shed 5.43 points, or 0.01 per cent, to end at 66,017.81. NSE's Nifty50 fell 9.85 points, or 0.05 per cent, to end the day at 19,802. Broader markets outperformed the headline indices as BSE midcap and smallcap indices settled in green. Fear gauge dropped about 5 per cent to 11.32-mark. It turned out to be a dull session as the benchmark ended unchanged after trading in a narrow band. After the initial uptick, Nifty slipped lower in no time and remained in a tight range till the end. A mixed trend continued on the sectoral front wherein realty, oil & gas and metal edged higher while pharma and IT closed in the red, said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research at Religare Broking. "Nifty attempted to overcome the hurdle at 19,850 but failed again due to divergence among the heavyweights. We maintain our positive view amid consolidation in the index and suggest continuing with a 'buy on dips' approach. Traders should focus on sectors/themes that are attracting noticeable traction and avoid laggards," he said. On the sectoral front, the Nifty pharma index shed 2 per cent, while the Nifty healthcare index was down more than a per cent. The Nifty IT and consumer durable indices were other key laggards. Among the gainers, the Nifty realty and oil & gas indices surged more than a per cent, while metal, media and auto indices were other key gainers. In the Nifty50 pack, Cipla tanked as much as 8 per cent, while Ultratech Cement, SBI Life Insurance Company and LTIMindTree shed 2 per cent each. Larsen Toubro fell over a per cent. Among the gainers, Hero MotoCorp gained 5 per cent, while Bajaj Auto rose over 3 per cent. Bharat Petroleum rose 2 per cent each for the day. Markets were extremely lacklustre on the back of thin volumes. It looks like a lot of capital has been making its way into the IPO market over the last few days, and investors including retail ones don't want to miss the bus. Once the current IPO rush is over, we may see investors returning to secondary markets, provided there are no major hiccups in global markets, said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities. A total of 3,844 shares were traded on BSE on Thursday, of which 2,064 settled with gains. 1,636 stocks ended the session with cuts while 144 shares remained unchanged. During the day, 333 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 188 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day. In the broader markets, 3i Infotech surged more than 16 per cent, while Avadh Sugar & Energy rose more than 13 per cent. Man Infra gained over 12 per cent, while Navkar Corporation surged 11 per cent. Nahar Spinning Mills, DCM Shriram Industries and Dalmia Bharat Sugar & Industries advanced 10 per cent each. Among the laggards, Tube Investments of India and RateGain Travel Technologies tanked 8 per cent each. MAS Financial Services, Shanthi Gears and Tilaknagar Industries dropped 6 per cent each. Sastasundar Ventures and Techno Electric & Engineering Company were down 5 per cent each.
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