Market Wrap Podcast, Sep 27: Here's all that happened in the markets today

The indian benchmark indices closed flat on Monday. The Sensex remained above the 60,000 mark, while Nifty closed below 17,900. The BSE Sensex pared 334 points from the day's high to end 29 points higher at 60,078. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty shut shop at 17,855. During the day, the BSE Sensex managed to log fresh record high of 60,412.

In the 30-pack index, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Bajaj Auto and NTPC were the top gainers, up between 2-6 per cent. HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv and Infosys were the top losers, down up to 4 per cent.

The broader markets underperformed the benchmark Sensex as the BSE Midcap closed flat and BSE Smallcap down 0.13 per cent. The market volatility remained high as India VIX surged 6.67 per cent to 18.05. The market breadth favoured declines with the advance-decline ratio at 4:5.

Sectorally, the trend remained mixed, with the auto and realty indices gaining 2.5-3 percent. Realty stocks continued the rally on positive developments in the sector while the sentiments in the auto sector were lifted on expectation of better sales numbers for September.

That said, the IT index shed nearly 3 per cent as investors preferred to book some amount of profit ahead of September quarter earnings. The Nifty Pharma and FMCG fell nearly 1 per cent each.

Coming to stock-specific moves, the shares of Reliance Industries hit a new record level of Rs 2,529 today. The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate’s market capitalisation touched Rs 17 trillion. The scrip has been gaining for the fourth consecutive session.

Bharti Airtel too hit fresh high in intra-day deals, ending 2 per cent higher ahead of its rights issue. The company’s Rs 21,000-crore rights issue will remain open for subscription between October 5 and October 21.

Maruti Suzuki has also soared more than 7 per cent to top the gainers list. PVR and INOX Leisure rose after Karnataka and Maharashtra eased Covid-induced restrictions on theatres.

Going into trade on Tuesday, the markets may continue to rise with the Nifty just 50 points shy of the 18,000-mark. According to Ruchit Jain, Senior Analyst - Technical and Derivatives at Angel One, The level around 17800 would be the intraday support below which, we can see some profit booking towards 17700 mark. Lastly, stock-specific news flow, as well as news related to COVID-19 vaccinations will also drive the markets.