Indices end lower for 2nd day; Sensex drops 441 pts but up 2.5% this week

Stock market updates: Domestic markets snapped the streak of weekly losses even as sombre global mood butchered bulls at the bourses for two days straight. A rise in Brent crude prices along with a jump in bond yields acted as the double whammy on stocks on Friday, pushing benchmark equity indices down by nearly a per cent. However, a tilt towards defensives towards the fag-end of the session lifted markets off-lows.

Among headline indices, the S&P BSE Sensex ended at 50,405 levels today, erasing 441 points or 0.87 per cent. From the day's high of 50,886, the index tumbled 726 points to hit a low of 50,160. Financial, pharma, and IT counters were the top drags on the index today with IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finserv, Infosys, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, and HDFC leading the list of losers. All these stocks were down in the range of 1.7 per cent to 5 per cent.

On the upside, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki, Nestle India, Titan, Reliance Industries, and L&T supported the markets with up to 2.5 per cent gains.

On the NSE, the Nifty50 settled above the 14,900-mark at 14,938, down 143 points or 0.95 per cent. 38 of the 50 stocks declined on the Nifty today, while 12 advanced.

All the sectoral indices were painted red amid across-the-board sell-off. The Nifty PSU index plunged 4 per cent on the NSE, followed by the Nifty Metal index (down 3 per cent), and the Nifty IT and Realty indices (down 2 per cent each). The Nifty Bank, Auto, FMCG, and Financial Services indices slipped between 0.5 per cent and 1.7 per cent.

In the broader markets, the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices dropped 1.9 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

The overall market breadth favoured bears with 1,904 stocks ending the day in the red, compared with around 1,083 stocks that advanced on the BSE.

Global markets

A late rally in Chinese shares on Friday helped pull Asian stocks off one-month lows as investors picked bargains while attention shifted to US non-farm payrolls due later in the day.

Australian stocks dropped more than 0.7 per cent, Japan's Nikkei share average shed 0.2 per cent, and shares in South Korea fell 0.4 per cent.

Chinese shares, which had opened in the red, reversed losses with the bluechip CSI300 index up 0.3 per cent. That left MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan down 0.4 per cent.

In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.7 per cent.

In the commodities market, oil prices jumped more than $1 a barrel on Friday, hitting their highest levels in nearly 14 months, after OPEC and its allies agreed not to increase supply in April.

Brent crude futures for May rose to as high as $68 a barrel on Friday, a level not seen since Jan. 8, 2020. The contract was on track for a near 3 per cent gain in the week.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:22 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Shrikant Chouhan, Executive VP, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities

On the weekly basis, despite the market closed in the positive territory the market mood was sluggish. A substantial jump in the long term treasury yields and upward activity in the dollar index towards 92, resulted in weakness across the globe. The Nifty/Sensex closed below the crucial supports of 14950 and 50500 on a daily basis. The bank nifty has narrowed down the trading range and closed at an unchanged level on a weekly basis. The dollar index has formed a series of higher high and higher low that could be the cause of concern as it controls or curtail inflows for emerging markets.

On a daily basis, the market has formed the long-legged Doji formation, which is an indication of indecisiveness. However, in the short term until the market is not breaking 15280 levels our bias should be on the downside.

Outlook: In the coming week, we could see, Nifty/Sensex touching minimum 14750/50000 or 14550/49300 levels. On the higher side, 15150/51200 and 15280/51600 would be major hurdles. The focus should be on FMCG and Auto companies.”

 

 

4:10 PM

TECH VIEW :: Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research, CapitalVia Global Research

The market witnessed some lackluster movement. Nifty 50 Index is still trading below the resistance level of 15250. the expected level should range between 14900 and 15250, and it’s going to be crucial for the short-term market scenario to stay above the 15050 levels. While it is subject to further price action evolution, It is prudent to wait for a decisive breakout above 15250 and technical factors to improve before going long in the market. the traders are advised to refrain from building a new buying position until further improvement.

3:56 PM

MARKET RECAP :: S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities

Indices opened weak on the back of Jerome Powell remarks and rising oil prices. Profit booking in Metals & Financials kept markets in the red throughout the day. The key highlight was the huge response seen to the IPO of MTAR Technologies as investors rushed subscriptions on its last day today

3:55 PM

IPO Update :: MTAR Tech issue subscribed 200x till 3:50 PM on final day of the issue

3:53 PM

SECTOR OF THE DAY :: FMCG stocks outperform in a subdued market

3:51 PM

SECTOR OF THE DAY :: PSBs bleed; Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank top losers

3:48 PM

Stocks that dragged the Sensex lower today

3:47 PM

Sectoral trends on NSE at Close

3:40 PM

Sensex Heatmap at Close

3:35 PM

CLOSING BELL

Among headline indices, the S&P BSE Sensex ended at 50,405 levels today, erasing 441 points or 0.87 per cent. From the day's high of 50,886, the index tumbled 726 points to hit a low of 50,160.

 

On the NSE, the Nifty50 settled above the 14,900-mark at 14,938, down 143 points or 0.95 per cent. 38 of the 50 stocks declined on the Nifty today, while 12 advanced.

 

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