Sensex ends 549 pts down at 49,035; HCL Tech declines 4%; Tata Motors up 7%

Stock market updates: India VIX ticked up 5 per cent

Stock market updates: Fresh concerns over coronavirus lockdown in China and European countries weighed on market sentiment, dragging benchmarks 1 per cent lower on Friday. That apart, concerns around the implementation of US President-elect Joe Biden's proposed package tempered global recovery hopes. 

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex breached below the 49,000-mark during the intra-day trade, and hit a low of 48,795 on the BSE, plunging around 860 points from day's high. The Nifty50, on the other hand, skid 260 points from day's high to hit a low of 14,358. Volatility gauge, India VIX, jumped over 4 per cent today to close at 24 levels.

Sensex ended in the sea of red with 26 of the 30 constituents ending the day in the red. Tech Mahindra (down 4 per cent) was the top loser on the index, followed by losses in ONGC, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, Ultratech Cement, HUL, and NTPC, down between 2 per cent and 3.7 per cent. The index closed at 49,035 levels, down 549.5 points or 1.11 per cent.

Weightage-wise, HDFC, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, and HUL dragged the index by 300 points.

On NSE, the Nifty50 index slipped below the 14,500-mark and settled at 14,433 levels, down 162 points or 1.11 per cent lower. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices settled with a cut of 1.25 per cent and 1.06 per cent, respectively.

All the sectoral indices on the NSE closed with a red tick. Nifty IT and Nifty PSU Bank index ended with 2 per cent cuts while Nifty Financial Services, FMCG, Metals, and Private bank were down 1 per cent. Nifty Bank index skid 273 points, or 0.8 per cent, and ended at 32,247

Global markets

Prospects of tighter lockdowns in Germany and France as well as new Covid-19 restrictions in China cut into optimism about a global economic recovery. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.5 per cent. 

The German DAX was down 0.5 per cent and France's CAC 40 fell 0.6 per cent. UK's FTSE 100 also declined 0.6 per cent despite data showing that Britain’s economy recorded a smaller-than-expected contraction in November.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks had initially firmed on Thursday on a report that the stimulus package could be as big as $2 trillion, much more than markets were expecting. However, shares later erased gains with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.59 per cent.

Chinese blue-chips shed 0.97 per cent amid worries over rising COVID-19 cases in China, and after the Chinese central bank drained liquidity from the country's banking system, suggesting a tightening bias in monetary policy.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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4:36 PM

TECH VIEW :: Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities

After showing range bound action with high volatility in the last couple of sessions, Nifty shifted into a sharp weakness on Friday and closed the day lower by 161 points. Nifty opened on a positive note, slipped into further weakness in the early mid part of the session amidst a range movement. The weakness got intensified in the mid to later part of the session and Nifty finally closed with minor upside recovery note.

 

A long negative candle was formed with minor lower shadow. Technically, this pattern could indicate profit booking from the highs. Friday's weakness was resulted in Nifty to rest on an immediate support of 10 day EMA at 14350.

 

We had anticipated the chances of one day drop as per symmetrical pattern of 16-18 sessions (after the last drop of 21st Dec). Friday's sharp one day drop came after the consumption of 17 sessions post last one day drop. Previously, in many occasions Nifty witnessed upside bounces after one day sharp declines. Having declined steeply on Friday, the odds of upside bounce back is high in the market by next week.

Nifty as per weekly timeframe chart, formed a small negative candle with upper and lower shadow. Technically, this pattern could indicate a formation of doji pattern at the new all time highs (14653). Normally, a formation of doji after a reasonable upmove could signal warning for trend reversal. But, few such doji patterns have been formed in the last 9-10 weeks and the market continued its upside momentum since then.

 

Conclusion: The sharp decline of Friday seems to be a one day drop in the market as per the symmetrical chart pattern of daily and we expect Nifty to show upside bounce to retest the new high of 14653 in the next week. On the flip side, a sharp follow-through weakness in the next 1-2 sessions is expected to negate this pattern. Immediate support is placed at 14350

4:07 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Deepak Jasani, Head of Research, HDFC Securities

Indian Benchmark equity indices ended lower on the back of profit booking on Jan 15 amid weak global cues. The Nifty kept falling since opening with small bounces in between and made a bottom at 1415 Hrs. A late feeble recovery ensued. At close the Nifty was down 161.90 points or 1.11% at 14,433.70. Nifty closed the week with a gain of 0.6%.

 

Volumes on the NSE were higher than the previous session. Among sectors, all of them ended in the red with IT, PSU Bank and Pharma falling the most. Advance decline ratio was severely negative.

The Nifty has given the first signs of reversing after a steep rise. Advance decline ratio has also raised concerns over the last few days of possibility of a formation of a short term top. 14563-14256 are the resistance/supports for the Nifty in the near term

4:01 PM

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

The market witnessed profit booking and following the global trends. Market continues to resist 14600 and has taken a dip at 14360. If the market closes below the levels of 14380, we might see a correction till the levels of 14180-14200. The momentum indicators like RSI, MACD indicating a small correction in the markets.

4:00 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities

Markets began circumspect amidst weak job data in the US even as Joe Biden unveiled details of the $1.9 trillion rescue package. Friday's afternoon trade saw profit taking in IT stocks despite the biggies putting out positive commentary with large deal wins as MCAP to GDP crossed 100% leading to volatility

3:59 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

The market opened flat with a negative bias and weak start of European market led to further bleeding with all sectors in the red zone. The $1.9 trillion ‘American Rescue Plan’ failed to uplift the sentiment of the western market. Investors can resort to profit booking as the near future trend of the market will depend on budget expectations, stock wise Q3 result and foreign inflows

3:58 PM

Market stats :: Market breadth favours bears

3:53 PM

PSU Bank index snaps 3-day winning streak

3:52 PM

BSE MidCap underperforms frontline index :: Voda Idea jumps 11%, HAL, BEL tumble 4%

3:48 PM

Sensex contributors :: RIL, HDFC duo, HUL, IT stocks drag index

3:47 PM

Trends on NSE :: All the sectoral indices end in the red

3:45 PM

Sensex Heatmap :: 26 of the 30 index constituents trading in the red

3:35 PM

CLOSING BELL

Sensex ended in the sea of red with 26 of the 30 constituents ending the day in the red. Tech Mahindra (down 4 per cent) was the top loser on the index, followed by losses in ONGC, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, Ultratech Cement, HUL, and NTPC, down between 2 per cent and 3.7 per cent. The index closed at 49,035 levels, down 549.5 points or 1.11 per cent.

 

On NSE, the Nifty50 index slipped below the 14,500-mark and settled at 14,433 levels, down 162 points or 1.11 per cent lower. 

3:30 PM

MSTC hits record high on heavy volumes; zooms 61% in thus far in January

Shares of MSTC hit a record high of Rs 263.65, soaring 20 per cent on the BSE on Friday, in an otherwise weak market on the back of heavy volumes.
 

Trading volumes on the counter more-than-doubled with a combined 2.9 million equity shares, representing 4.1 per cent of total equity of MSTC, changing hands on the NSE and BSE till 03:18 pm. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 1.1 per cent at 49,037 levels. READ MORE

3:21 PM

Nifty IT index slips over 2%

3:14 PM

BUZZING :: IDFC First Bank advances over 4% in a weak market