The bears made a comeback on Dalal Street, reminding investors of last week's drubbing, as concerns over spike in bond yields rekindled on Thursday. The US bond yields which have become influential on stock prices, globally, spiked to 1.48 per cent, while in India, the yield on 10-year benchmark government bonds rose to 6.26 per cent today, its highest level since April 2020.
Effectively, the Euro STOXX 600 was down 0.5 per cent and London's FTSE slipped 0.6 per cent. In Asia, the MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, lost 0.5 per cent, the MSCI's ex-Japan Asian-Pacific shares lost 1.8 per cent, and Japan's Nikkei fell 2.1 per cent.
Back home, the benchmark indices tumbled over 1 per cent to end the session at day's low. The S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 50,846 levels, down 598 points or 1.16 per cent. The Nifty50, meanwhile, defended the 15,000-mark and closed at 15,081 levels, down 165 points or 1.08 per cent.
As per technical charts, any breach below the 15,000-mark on the Nifty may create shorting opportunities. As regards Sensex, any decisive breakdown below the 50,000-mark may eradicate upside bias.
Among individual stocks, UltraTech Cement, Dr Reddy's Labs, Asian Paints, HUL, and Maruti Suzuki, all up between 0.02 per cent and 4 per cent, were the only gainers on the Sensex. Adani Ports, Shree Cement, Grasim, SBI Life, and Wipro, up in the range of 0.8 per cent to 3 per cent, were the additional gainers on the Nifty.
On the downside, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, L&T, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, and SBI tanked up to 2.5 per cent to end the day as top laggards on the BSE barometer. JSW Steel, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, and Coal India, meanwhile, dragged the Nifty index lower today.
Let's now look at some of the outperforming stocks of the day:
Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation hit an all-time high of Rs 2,015, up 7 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Thursday, as analysts remain bullish on the counter. The stock of the Indian Railways' catering and ticketing company has appreciated 32 per cent over the past one month as compared to less than 1 per cent gain the S&P BSE Sensex. The stock settled 4 per cent higher, at Rs 1961, on the BSE today.
That apart, shares Equitas Small Finance Bank rallied 14 per cent to Rs 56.50, hitting its highest level since listing on November 2, 2020. With today’s rally, the stock has surged 71 per cent against the issue price of Rs 33 per share.
Shares of cement makers were in demand in an otherwise subdued market on Thursday, with the industry giants UltraTech Cement and Ambuja Cements, as well as Ramco Cement, hitting their respective record highs on the BSE on robust demand and price hike reports.
Orient Cement rallied 13 per cent to Rs 113.65; while India Cements hit a 52-week high of Rs 187, up 7 per cent on the BSE. UltraTech Cement, Star Cement, Shree Cement, Ambuja Cements, ACC, JK Cement and JK Lakshmi Cement gained between 3 per cent and 5 per cent in the intra-day trade today.
Shares of gold financing firms, Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance, have traded largely in-line with the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex so far in the calendar year 2021 amid correction in gold prices owing to improving US treasury yields, backed by swift economic recovery.
Now, amid expectation that the gold prices may fall to Rs 40,000 levels in the short-term, and low margin of safety for gold loans analysts have turned cautious on Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance over the short-term.
