Sensex falls 64 pts; smallcaps outperform; SBI Life jumps 5%, RIL drops 2%

SBI Life (up over 5 per cent) settled the day as the top Nifty gainer, trailed by Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, HUL, Asian Paints, and Maruti Suzuki

MARKET LIVE: Indices flat; Nifty below 14,650; metals, FMCG stocks up

Stock market updates: Domestic equity markets staged a smart recovery in the fag end of the session, lifted mainly by metal and FMCG stocks, to end mixed on Monday even as losses in the banking counters capped gains. Among the headline indices, the BSE barometer S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 48,718.5 levels, down 64 points or 0.13 per cent. The index hit a low of 48,028 in the opening deals but rose swiftly through the day to touch a high of 48,863 in late noon deals.

On the NSE, the Nifty50 index closed at 14,634 levels, up 3 points or 0.02 per cent, after hitting an intra-day high of 14,674.

SBI Life (up over 5 per cent) settled the day as the top Nifty gainer, trailed by Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, HUL, Asian Paints, and Maruti Suzuki. On the downside, Titan (down 4.5 per cent) was leading the list of losers, followed by IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, BPCL, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and State Bank of India (SBI).

Despite weakness in the benchmarks, the overall market strength favoured bulls amid outperformance in the broader markets. The S&P BSE SmallCap index, for instance, ended 1.6 per cent higher driven by sugar stocks, Tata Steel BSL, Tata Metaliks, and Reliance Infrastructure. All these stocks gained between 15 per cent and 20 per cent.

The S&P BSE MidCap index, on the other hand, settled 0.05 per cent higher.

As regards sectoral indices, the Nifty Metal index rallied 2 per cent today, followed by the Nifty FMCG index, up 1 per cent. On the downside, the Nifty Bank index slipped 0.7 per cent on the NSE.

Global markets

With China, Japan and Britain closed for public holidays, volumes were thin and Asian shares got off to a slow start, with most markets slipping into the red. South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.66 per cent while Australia's S&P/ASX200 index up 0.04 per cent.

European stocks drifted higher on Monday after strong euro zone factory activity and German retail sales data highlighted a quick rebound in economic growth, with a largely buoyant earnings season adding to the upbeat mood.

Euro zone stocks index that includes markets in continental Europe rose 0.6 per cent, while the German DAX was up 0.8 per cent and France's CAC 40 gained 0.6 per cent.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:50 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities

Indian benchmark equity indices recovered from the early losses on May 03 and ended on flat note in a highly volatile trade. The Nifty opened lower in line with other Asian markets and post the unexciting performance of BJP in the recently concluded state elections but rose in early trade. Post 1400 Hrs another sharp rise followed. At close, the Nifty was up 3.10 points or 0.02% at 14634.20.

Nifty bounced up smartly from the intra day lows going against the Asian negative mood. 14694-14747 is the next resistance band for the Nifty while 14493 is the support level. Broader market continues to do well as is clear from the positive advance decline ratio while frontline stocks remain volatile based on institutional flows.

4:40 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking

Markets ended almost unchanged in a highly volatile trading session following mixed cues. The benchmark opened lower, in response to rising COVID cases, state elections outcome and profit taking in the global indices. It continued to hover in a narrow range as the session progressed however recovery in the last hour aided the index to close on a flat note. Amid all, the buoyancy on the broader front kept the traders busy. Amongst the sectors, a mixed trend was witnessed wherein telecom, metal and healthcare ended with gains whereas consumer durables, oil & gas and banking traded under pressure.

We maintain our cautious stance on the markets given the uncertainty surrounding the rising COVID-19 cases. However, supportive global cues, strong earnings expectation and ramp up in vaccination drive could keep the downside limited. We suggest focusing on themes which are attracting noticeable buying interest amid uncertainty.

4:27 PM

TECH VIEW :: Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director at Choice Broking

Technically, the Nifty has closed near the Middle Bollinger Band & 21 days Simple Moving Averages, which could be an immediate hurdle for the index. Moreover, the index has indicated negative crossover on the daily chart, which suggests some weakness for the near term. At present, the Nifty index has a support at 14400 levels while an upside resistance seems at 14800 levels

4:18 PM

TECH VIEW :: Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities

Index opened a day with a strong gap down but managed to recover all day loses in the second half and closed a day at 14634 with minimal loss & formed a bullish candle on daily chart. The overall structure still looks cautious until trading below 14800 zones, on the higher side index, has stiff hurdle at 14720-14800 zone profit booking is suggested around said levels fresh breakout will be only above 14800 zone and good supports are placed at 14550-14500 zone

4:09 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

The domestic market bounced back from its early losses to trade flat owing to global cues and strong buying seen in FMCG and metal stocks. Financial stocks were the top laggards due to weak results of mid-sized banks & NBFCs while buying interest was seen in small-cap stocks. India’s Manufacturing PMI data in April was flat at 55.5 with a mild change from March’s data of 55.4% mainly due to pick up in international demand for Indian goods

4:00 PM

MARKET RECAP :: S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities

A fantastic recovery led by Metals with a host of stocks in the broader markets from Sugar to Rice to Tea and Coffee kept the screen lively in a highly volatile trading session. Investors were seen accumulating several Largecaps as well as high-quality Midcaps across sectors

3:58 PM