Market Wrap Podcast, Aug 24: Here's all that happened in the markets today

Strong action in the broader markets overshadowed the performance of the benchmark indices as the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices gained over 1.5% each. The midcap pack closed 1.52% up and smallcap 1.69%. Following this, the market breadth also turned positive, with the advance-decline ratio at 2:1.  

Meanwhile, flagship Sensex and Nifty made steady ascend on Tuesday, pushing Sensex past 56,000 in intra-day and Nifty above 16,600. Thanks to strong gains in Bajaj twins, private lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank along with index heavyweight Reliance Industries, Sensex closed the day with a gain of 403 points or 0.73% at 55,959. Meanwhile, the Nifty50 pack closed the day at 16,625, up 128 points or 0.78%.

Bajaj Finserv was the best performing stock in the 30-pack Sensex. The stock rallied 8.65% to hit a new high of Rs 16,590.15 after the company said it has received in-principle approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India for sponsoring a mutual fund. The stock eventually closed 8 per cent up. The spillover impact of this was also visible on Bajaj Finance that too hit a fresh peak of Rs 7,046.80 and was among top Sensex gainers. The stock closed 3% higher at Rs 6,979.

Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank and SBI were among other top gainers, up between 2-3%. On the flip side, Nestle India, HDFC, Infosys and HCL Tech were the top losers, down 1% each.

Sectorally, defensive sectors like FMCG and IT witnessed profit-taking after a strong rally over the past few sessions. Nifty Metal, meanwhile, emerged the best performer, with a gain of nearly 3%. It was trailed by Nifty Media and PSU Bank indices that added 2% each.

In stock-specific moves, both the companies that debuted on bourses put up a tepid show. The shares of Aptus Value closed at Rs 346.50 per share, down 2% to its issue price of Rs 353. The stock had listed at Rs 329.95, a discount of 7%.

Chemplast Sanmar, meanwhile, opened at a 3% discount to the issue price of Rs 541 at Rs 525. It later gained some ground and ended only a 1% discount at Rs 534.90 on BSE.

That apart, shares of Info Edge rallied 5 per cent to Rs 5766 after JP Morgan initiated coverage on the stock with a target price of Rs 6,600 per share.

And shares of Wonderla Holidays jumped 4 per cent to settle at Rs 237.05 after the firm informed exchanges that Wonderla Kochi is set to reopen from September 1, 2021.

Lastly, an update on the global market.

A rally in European stocks ran out of steam and US index futures pared gains as investors await insights on the Federal Reserve’s policy path amid lingering concerns about the threat of Covid-19 to the global economy.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index erased an advance as the strong rebound in Chinese technology shares failed to carry through to Europe. Futures on the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Futures on the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3%, indicating a positive Wall Street start.