Sensex, Nifty snap 8-session winning run despite new stimulus steps

The Sensex and Nifty snapped their eight-session rising streak on Thursday as the new set of stimulus measures announced by the finance minister failed to stem profit-booking in banking, IT, and energy stocks.

Lacklustre global cues and a weakening rupee further weig­hed on sentiment, traders said. After dropping 466.12 points during the day, Sensex ended 236.48 points or 0.54 per cent lower at 43,357.19.

Similarly, the broader Nifty slipped 58.35 points or 0.46 per cent to 12,690.80. SBI was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding 3.16 per cent, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, and ONGC. On the other hand, HUL, ITC, L&T, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, and Bajaj Finance ended with gains of up to 2.89 per cent.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday anno­u­nced tax relief on select home sale deals, enhanced credit guarantee programme for small businesses and provide incentives for new job creation.

The measures, that also included additional fertiliser subsidy and already announced production-linked inventive scheme for manufacturing units, totalled Rs 2.65 trillion, taking the cumulative stimulus package announced since lockdown to almost Rs 30 trillion, or 15 per cent of the gross domestic product.

"Market was hesitant to raise its optimism further as profit booking was triggered across the banking sector post the announcement of the stimulus. The market was waiting for the package, Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 was announced today which was good enough and nicely factored in the rising market.

"FM's new measures will have a positive impact on developers and home buyers due to tax reliefs and will ensure demand for housing which is on a strong recovery stage. Subsidy announcement of Rs 65,000 crore for fertilizers is likely to help rural and agricultural sectors. Expansion of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to additional 10 sectors will boost domestic manufacturing, in the long-term,"said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

BSE bankex, finance, utilities, energy and IT indices ended up to 2.05 per cent lower, while FMCG, capital goods, industrials and realty indices finished higher.

Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices outperformed the benchmark, rallying up to 1.20 per cent.

Global equities took a breather after the Pfizer vaccine-induced rally.

In Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended in the red, while Tokyo settled on a positive note.

Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading with losses in early deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.07 per cent lower at USD 43.77 per barrel.

The rupee depreciated by 28 paise to close at 74.64 against the US dollar.