Sensex, Nifty slip in early trade; Suzlon Energy, Eicher Motors fall up to 3%; Olectra Greentech jumps 7%

Indian equity benchmarks traded lower in early deals on Thursday amid weak global cues. The domestic indices were dragged by technology, financials, metals and consumer goods shares. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack fell 60 points or 0.09 per cent to trade at 65,386, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 14 points or 0.07 per cent down to trade at 19,385. Although, mid- and small-cap shares were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.49 per cent and small-cap gained 0.52 per cent.

On the global front, Asian markets edged lower. Overnight, Wall Street equities fell after minutes of the June US Federal Reserve meeting showed that the decision to pause hiking rates was unanimous and that most members expected further policy tightening.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Rs 1,603 crore of Indian equities on a net basis on Wednesday, while domestic investors sold Rs 439 crore of shares, as per provisional NSE data.

"Investors should not chase low-grade small-cap stocks at this juncture. Stay invested in high quality large-caps. Wait for the Q1 results for direction," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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Eight out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty IT, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Metal and Nifty FMCG were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 0.36 per cent, 0.20 per cent, 0.19 per cent and 0.13 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Eicher Motors was the top loser in the Nifty pack as the stock cracked 2.55 per cent to trade at Rs 3,225.25. IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, HCL Tech and Divi's Labs fell up to 1.35 per cent.

In contrast, Apollo Hospitals, Britannia, Reliance Industries, Nestle India and PowerGrid were among the top gainers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,964 shares were advancing while 957 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank), Infosys, Bajaj Finance and ITC were among the top laggards.

Also, Suzlon Energy, Angel One, Jindal Steel, India Cements and Cyient tanked up to 3.32 per cent. On the other hand, Olectra Greentech and Jamna Auto Industries climbed up to 7.35 per cent.

Sensex had slipped 33 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 65,446.04 yesterday, while Nifty had added 10 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at a fresh closing peak of 19,399.

Nifty outlook

 

"Several downside attempts unfolded on anticipated lines, but none of them attained the momentum required to go all the way to our objective of 19,125. The consequent pull back thereof lends a neutral bias to start with, today, but we are inclined to pursue the downside prospects as indicated by the spinning top on the previous day. As maintained yesterday, this view will be invalidated, if 19,320-19,250 region holds in the event of a slippage or if 19,479 is breached during upside attempts," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

 

Derivative

 

"Nifty weekly contract has highest open interest at 19,500 for 'Calls' and 19,300 for 'Puts' while monthly contracts have highest open interest at 19,500 for 'Calls' and 19,000 for 'Puts'. Highest new OI addition was seen at 19,500 for 'Calls' and 19,350 for 'Puts' in weekly and at 20,000 for 'Calls' and 19,000 for 'Puts' in monthly contracts. FIIs increased their future index long position holdings by 3.51 per cent, increased future index shorts by 0.98 per cent and in index options by 0.21 per cent in Call longs, -3.02 per cent in Call short, 17.53 per cent in Put longs and 2.59 per cent in Put shorts," James stated.

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