Sensex rises 105 pts; Nifty ends above 20,050; Tata Steel up 5%, Coforge tanks 7%

Domestic equity markets managed to kick off the week on a positive note and posted mild gians for the day. Headlines indices rebounded from the early jitters but selling in IT and financials kept the gains in the check. Traders are looking for the policy actions due later this week amid the lofty valuations concerns in the broader markets.

BSE Sensex tanked 104.99 points, or 0.14 per cent, to end the day at 72,748.42. NSE's Nifty ended at 22,055.70, dropped 32.35 points, or 0.15 per cent for the day. Broader market were mixed as the BSE midcap index ended marginally higher, while the BSE smallcap index settled in red. Fear gauge India VIX inched up 1.5 per cent to 13.90-level.

Amidst subdued global market sentiment and heightened selling pressures from both domestic and foreign institutional investors, caution prevailed among investors, resulting in Indian equity indices Sensex and Nifty trading flat today. Mid and small-cap indices also displayed lackluster performance, said Shrey Jain, Founder and CEO SAS Online.

"Looking ahead, considering the technical standpoint, the short-term and near-term outlook for the Nifty suggests weakness. A definitive breach below the 21,900 level could potentially trigger a significant downward movement towards the subsequent support level at 21,500 in the near future," he said.

On a sectoral front, the Nifty IT index was the biggest laggard, falling 1.64 per cent. The Nifty FMCG, financial services, private bank and consumer durable indices also settled in red. Among the gainers, the Nifty metal indiex gained 2.5 per cent, while the Nifty media and auto indices gained more a per cent each.

In the Nifty50 pack, Tata Steel surged more than 5 per cent ahead of its board meeting. Mahindra & Mahindra roses 3.3 per cent, while JSW Steel, Apollo Hospital Enterprises and Tata Motors gained about 3 per cent each. Among the laggards, UPL, infosys and Tata Consumer Products dropped 2 per cent each , while Tata Consultancy Services shed 1.75 per cent for the day.

The Indian market followed the positive Asian peers with a mixed bias. Domestic issues, like mutual fund stress tests,  hardly brought any negative views, but premium valuation remains as a concern. Midcap & small caps are attempting to scroll up, however consolidation persists, said  Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

"Both DII and FIIs inflows are strong for large caps, hence sustaining their outperformance. Policy actions, this week, from global central banks, the US FED, BOJ, and BOE will dictate the market direction. Indication, by the FED, that rate cut may be probably in the latter half of CY24, should bring a mixed sentiment in the short term," he said.

A total of 4,056 shares were traded on BSE on Monday, of which 2,007 settled with cuts. 1,932 stocks ended the session with gains while 117 shares remained unchanged. During the day, 347 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 359 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day.

"22,000 continues to be a strong support for the Nifty Index and going by the March monthly expiry premium, only below 21,900 is where a short should be initiated, said Rahul Ghose, CEO, Hedged (dot) in

"Nifty Bank continued to see no unwinding of the short straddles prevalent at 47,000, indicating a continued sideways move for the next couple of days. The top for it for the near term is seen at 48,000 for March and 49,000 for April. This level also happens to be the level for the highest call writing for both the March and April series," he said.

In the broader markets, Manoj Vaibhav Gems N Jewellers and Navkar Corp hit an upper circuit of 20 per cent each, while The Anup Engineering surged about 16 per cent for the day. Hindware Home Innovation rose over 11 per cent, while Cressanda Solutions, Credo Brands Marketing and Macrotech Developers rose 10 per cent each.

Among the laggards, Coforge tanked about 7 per cent, while Kaveri Seeds also tumbled on the similar grounds. Agarwal Industrial Corporation ended 6 per cent lower, while Gujarata Pipavav Ports, Nava and Tata Investment Corporation tumbled 5 per cent each for the day.