Market Wrap Podcast, Aug 10: Here's all that happened in the markets today

In an ongoing tussle between the bulls and bears on Dalal Street, the bulls barely managed to have the upper hand in trade today. While the benchmark indices did end in the green, the selling pressure witnessed in the broader market and the weak market breadth clearly signalled underlying bearishness. Analysts too opined that unless the market breadth improves, we are unlikely to see any sharp upside for the index ahead.

In a see-saw trade, the benchmarks after hitting fresh peaks in intra-day trade slipped into the red on profit booking but soon recovered as investors lapped up shares, again taking the indices higher.

IT, private lender and telecom stocks were at the forefront of this rally. The 30-pack Sensex closed the day at 54,555, up 152 points or 0.28 per cent while the Nifty50 index settled 22 points or 0.13 per cent higher at 16,280. Sensex had touched a record high of 54,779.6 in trade while Nifty at 16,359.

Airtel, Tech Mahindra, HDFC and Kotak Bank were the top gainers while Tata Steel, Power Grid, NTPC and ITC were the worst laggards.

Broader markets bled as the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices shed 0.85 per cent and 2.05 per cent, respectively. According to analysts, buying interest has shifted to large caps. And a possible third wave of Covid and fall in liquidity can be lethal for the highly-priced mid & small caps.

On the sectoral front too, the majority of indices ended in the red, led by Nifty Metals and Nifty PSU Bank. Nifty IT, on the other hand, was the best performer with a gain of nearly 1 per cent. The index also hit a new high in trade today. Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Bank were the only other sectoral gainers.

In stock-specific development, shares of Future Retail staged a smart rebound after two-days of heavy selling amid reports that Amazon has drawn up blueprint to bailout for cash-strapped company. The stock recovered 18 per cent from day's low to end at Rs 50.70 on the NSE.

Coal India reported a 52.5 per cent YoY rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,174 crore for the quarter ending June 30, 2021. Its revenues jumped 37 per cent to Rs 25,282 crore. But the stock ended marginally lower at Rs 142.

Zomato tanked over 4 per cent ahead of its quarterly earnings to end the day at Rs 125 per share.

Airtel stock meanwhile rose 4 per cent to Rs 622 on strong growth expectations.  According to analysts, Bharti Airtel has a clear advantage to further gain high-quality subscribers in both pre-paid and post-paid categories, considering Vodafone Idea’s weak financial position. The stock had hit a new high of Rs 628 in trade. In last three weeks it has added nearly 20 per cent.

On the primary market front, all the four running IPOs failed to entice investors. Aptus Value and Chemplast Sanmar opened for subscription today and garnered only 20 per cent and 14 per cent subscriptions, respectively. While analysts liked Aptus' strong financials, they believe the company's valuations left little room for upside. Overall they suggested subscribing from a long term perspective. As for Chemplast Sanmar, analysts said subscribe for listing gains only as the company is available at a discount to peers but its financial condition weighs on its prospects.

CarTrade Tech looked set to sail through on Day 2 as the issue garnered nearly 94 per cent bids at the time of writing this report. Nuvoco Vistas although received a tepid response with only 24 per cent bids. Both issues close for subscription tomorrow.

Going into trade on Wednesday, the focus will remain on the activity in primary markets with four IPOs running. While stock-specific activity would also remain high amid the ongoing earnings season. Nearly 300 companies are slated to post their earnings tomorrow, including Bata India, Cadila Healthcare, Endurance Tech, New India Assurance and Pidilite.

On the global front, all eyes will be on the US CPI inflation for further indications of when the world's largest economy may start to withdraw stimulus after taper talk was amped up by strong jobs data.

Lastly, European shares trade higher, with STOXX 600 up 0.2 per cent while Nasdaq futures added 0.1 per cent and S&P 500 futures were flat, indicating a mildly positive start for Wall Street.