Sensex slips 81 pts ahead of FY21 advance GDP estimate; midcaps outperform

Overall, market breadth remained in the favour of the bulls with nearly two stocks rising against a stock that declined at the bourses

Stock market updates: Indian equity markets erased gains and ended in the red for the second day in a row ahead of the announcement of advance estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) for financial year of 2020-21 (FY21).

At close, the S&P BSE Sensex was quoting at 48,093 levels, down 81 points or 0.17 per cent, amid sell off in information technology and FMCG stocks. Bharti Airtel (up 3.6 per cent) was the top gainer on the Sensex, followed by IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, L&T, and HDFC. On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Nestle, Infosys, and ITC ended between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent lower.

The broader Nifty50, on the other hand, closed 9 points, or 0.06 per cent, lower at 14,137 levels. Out of the total 50 constituents, 27 advances on the Nifty while 23 ended the day in the red. The Nifty50 index hit a new peak of 14,256.25 in the morning deals.

Overall, market breadth remained in the favour of the bulls with nearly two stocks rising against a stock that declined. 

On the sectoral front, investors rotated funds out of defensives and bet on cyclicals as the Nifty IT, FMCG, and Pharma closed Thursday's trade in the red. The Nifty Realty index (up 1.35 per cent) and the Private Bank and PSB indices (up 1 per cent each) were the top performing indices.

The broader markets continued to outrun their large-cap peers. The S&P BSE MidCap, which topped the 19,000-mark for the first time and hit a record peak of 19,035, ended the day at 18,947 levels, up 1 per cent. The S&P BSE SmallCap index added 0.85 per cent at close to settle at 18,773.

Global markets

Global stocks rose on Thursday, reversing losses incurred on Wednesday. Europe's Euro STOXX 600 gained 0.3 per cent, with indices in Frankfurt and Paris up 0.4 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively. 

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in almost 50 countries, rose 0.3 per cent.

Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6 per cent and Japan's Nikkei hit its highest since 1990.

(With inputs from Reuters)    

4:40 PM

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

Indian equity benchmark indices closed with mild losses on January 7 for the second consecutive session. Nifty opened gap up in line with other Asian markets but gradually eroded through the day to end marginally in the negative. In the process it was one of the worst performing indices in the Asian region. At close, Nifty closed 9 points, or 0.1 percent, down at 14,137.35.

 

Volumes on the NSE were higher than recent average. Among sectors, Metals, Realty and PSU Bank gained the most, while FMCG, IT and Pharma fell the most. Broad market indices like smallcap and midcap indices gained and outperformed the Nifty.

Nifty ran into selling pressure at higher levels and ended in the negative. Markets may be witnessing some distribution at higher levels as is evident from large volumes in the past two days. However as long as the 13985 level on the Nifty is not breached, this remains a buy-on-dips market.

4:29 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Keshav Lahoti, associate equity analyst at Angel Broking

Today, Indian shares opened on a bullish note tracking positive global cues offering support on bets that Democratic sweep in Georgia would lead to more fiscal stimulus in the United States. Although, the market corrected in the later half to close flat for the day. Buying interest was higher in midcap stocks and smallcap stocks, Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 closed up by 1.4% each. On the sectoral indices front, the trend was mixed. Global cues were supportive: Dow Futures and  Nasdaq Futures were up by 0.4% and 0.5% respectively, whereas FTSE was down by 0.3%. We are cautiously positive on the market. Now, market focus will shift to quarterly results to be reported by the companies

 

4:12 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking

Markets traded range bound and settled almost unchanged. After the gap up opening, profit booking in the index majors pushed the benchmark lower as the session progressed. A mixed trend was witnessed on the sectoral front wherein IT and FMCG traded subdued while metal, realty and banking posted decent gains. Meanwhile, the broader indices outperformed and ended higher in the range of 0.9-1.1%. Amid all, the Nifty index finally closed at 14,137 levels.

 

We believe Q3 earnings and global cues would provide further direction to the markets. To start with, the IT major, TCS, Q3FY21 result would be on participants’ radar. Traders should maintain extra caution in the selection of stocks now and focus on overnight risk management

3:59 PM

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

After the Democrats won the Georgia Senate, Global Cues were positive in Morning Trade. Afternoon Trade however did see profit taking in FMCG stocks despite which we saw a close above 48K led by Financials & Metals. The broader markets witnessed demand for Housing Finance, Realty and Liquor stocks

3:57 PM

TECH VIEW :: Rohit Singre, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities

Index opened a day with good gap but again failed to hold the gains for second consecutive day and showed a profit booking and managed to close a day on negative note at 14,137 with minimal loss. Index has formed a good base near 14,100-14,000 zone holding above said level one can hold longs but any break below 14k mark can result in more profit booking and we may see dip towards 13,800 zone, strong hurdle for nifty is formed near 14,250 zone fresh upside only possible above 14,250 zone

3:54 PM

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

The Market witnessed some lackluster movement. Nifty is still trading below its immediate resistance zone of 14,250-14,270. A significant breakout above the levels of 14,270 could result in improvement of market breadth and the market can rally till the levels of 14,680. The nearest support for Nifty would be 14,000.

3:54 PM

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

Although the markets witnessed a range bound rally during the day, profit booking was seen towards the end of the session. Outperformance was seen in small and mid-cap stocks today. Realty stocks experienced upward momentum after Maharashtra cut levies on real estate projects by 50% while a downward trend was seen in IT and FMCG stocks owing to profit booking. The global markets were largely positive on potential democratic control of the US Senate and increasing prospects for further economic US stimulus measures. Healthy business figures reported by banking and auto companies have led to a better quarterly outlook and are expected to keep the sector in focus in the coming days

3:53 PM

SECTOR OF THE DAY :: Realty stocks stole the show with up to 13% gains today

>> Shares of real estate companies were in focus, surging by up to 13 per cent, on the NSE on Thursday after the Maharashtra government on Wednesday slashed premiums and levies charged on construction by 50 per cent till December 31 2021. The move is expected to give a boost to the real estate sector in the state.

 

3:51 PM

BUZZING STOCKS OF THE DAY :: Bharti Airtel topped the Rs 3-trillion m-cap mark in the intra-day session today

>> As shares of Bharti Airtel rallied 5.5 per cent to Rs 554 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday on the back of heavy volumes, the firm regained its market capitalisation of Rs 3 trillion. The stock was trading at its highest level since September 2, 2020.

>> The stock settled the day 3.7 per cent higher with a m-cap of Rs 2.97 trillion.

3:47 PM

MARKET INSIGHTS :: Benchmarks end in the red but market breadth remains in favour of the bulls

3:45 PM

S&P BSE MidCap settle near record high

3:43 PM

Sectoral trends :: Defensives take a back seat; Nifty FMCG, IT, Pharma indices end in the red

3:41 PM

Sensex Heatmap :: Bharti Airtel settles 4% higher; HUL, Nestle slip 2%

3:36 PM

CLOSING BELL

>> At close, the S&P BSE Sensex was quoting at 48,093 levels, down 81 points or 0.17 per cent, amid sell off in information technology and FMCG stocks.

 

>> The broader Nifty50, on the other hand, closed 9 points, or 0.06 per cent, lower at 14,137 levels. 

3:27 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Lupin receives tentative nod from US FDA for Empagliflozin & Metformin Hydrochloride ER tablets

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