Sensex falls 164 pts; Vodafone Idea tumbles 9%, Happiest Minds soars 17%

Despite an overall slowed down momentum in the markets, investors rewarded auto stocks as the June sales figures showed healthy year-on-year recovery

MARKET LIVE: Indices rangebound; Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors top gainers

Stock market updates: Dalal Street investors continued to stay on the sidelines on Thursday as new Delta and Delta plus variants of novel coronavirus push Covid-19 cases higher across the globe. Besides, weak economic data further dented market sentiment.

India's domestic factory orders and production contracted to an 11-month low in June as measures to contain the coronavirus put manufacturing into "reverse gear". The IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) slipped to 48.1 in June from 50.8 in May and 55.5 in April. This was, for the first time since July 2020, below the critical no-change mark of 50. READ MORE

Given this, the frontline BSE barometer gave up 164 points, or 0.31 per cent, to end at 52,318 levels. The broader Nifty50, on the other hand, settled at 15,680 levels, down 42 points or 0.26 per cent. In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index dipped 0.19 per cent. However, the BSE SmallCap index added 0.32 per cent.

That said, despite an overall slowed down momentum in the markets, investors rewarded auto stocks as the June sales figures showed healthy year-on-year recovery. The Nifty Auto index ended 0.8 per cent higher, the top sectoral gainer on the NSE, with Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, and TVS Motor up between 0.5 per cent and 2 per cent. Meanwhile, Balkrishna Industries, Tube Investments of India and MRF, from the auto ancillary space, gained between 1 per cent and 2 per cent.

Global markets

European shares rose on Thursday with the pan-European STOXX 600 and Germany's DAX was up 0.6 per cent each while France's CAC40 and the UK's FTSE 100 advanced 0.7 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively.

Earlier in Asia, most major equity markets posted modest declines.

(With inputs from Reuters)

5:20 PM

TECH VIEW :: Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research

The market witnessed yet another volatile session in a small range of 15680-15750. the market suggests trading above the support zone of 15680-15700 is positive from a short-term perspective. If the market sustains above15750, market expects a recovery to the level of 15900. The technical indicator suggests, a volatile movement in the market in the range of 15650-15900. As such the traders to refrain from building a fresh buying position, until any further decisive movement is seen in the market.

5:13 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Sec

The Nifty remained sluggish throughout the day and gradually declined to the level of 15667. Thursday's fall was led by the decline in technology, banks and commodities, which have a large weight in the index. Volatility is declining, which is a sign that bulls are resting and they could bring volatility to the market. India VIX closed at 12.63, the lowest level in the last 18 months. On a monthly basis, the market remained in the narrow range of 500 points, which is an unusual and even narrow trading range over the last six months. Long traders need to be careful when adding long positions at high levels and such markets invite unpleasant events.

For the day, the Nifty closed below the levels of 15700 and on Friday, we may see the market hitting the lower boundary which is between 15650 and 15600 levels. Our strategy should be to buy on dips that are between 15670-16620. Keep a final stop loss at 15550 levels. On the higher side, 15700-15745 and 15800 would be major obstacles.

5:02 PM

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

Indian benchmark equity indices once again gave up opening gains and settled in the negative territory on July 1.The Nifty opened higher, made an intra day high in the first few minutes of trade and started to fall. It closed the day almost at the intra day low. At close, the Nifty was down 41.50 points or 0.26% at 15680.

Volumes on the NSE fell even more from the low recent averages showing lack of institutional interest at the month and quarter beginning. Among sectors Consumer Durables, Healthcare and Auto gained the most while Power, IT and Telecom fell the most. BSE Midcap ended marginally lower, while Smallcap index up 0.3 percent.

Nifty fell for the fourth consecutive session and closed just above the near term support of 15674. 15606-15724 is the new band for the Nifty for the next 1-2 days. Advance decline ratio is even now suggesting limited profit taking at a time when the overall volumes in the market are sluggish.

4:41 PM

TECH VIEW :: Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities

Nifty continued to show choppy movement with negative bias and still there is no evidence of any upside bounce emerging from the lows. Nifty is currently placed at the important cluster support of 15650 levels and a move below this area could result in slide down to 15500 levels.

4:25 PM

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

Markets traded lackluster and ended marginally lower following subdued global cues. After the flat start, the benchmark traded range-bound till the end however the bias slightly on the negative side. Consequently, the Nifty index ended lower by 0.3% at 15,680 levels. Amongst the sectors, auto, healthcare and consumer durables ended in green whereas IT, telecom and realty ended with losses. The broader markets too remained mixed as midcap ended lower by 0.2% whereas smallcap was up 0.8%.

Markets are closely eyeing the global indices for some signal as indications are mixed from the domestic front. Nifty has been hovering within the 15,450-15,900 zone for almost a month now and currently trading in the middle of the band. A breakdown below 15,650 would pave the way for a further slide towards the lower range. We feel it’s prudent to keep a check on positions and prefer defensive in the current scenario.

4:12 PM

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

Nifty index closed at 15,680 and formed a bearish candle for the fourth consecutive session.

The index has reached its good demand zone of 15,650-15,600 zone from where we have witnessed a good move previously.

Any break below the mentioned levels can increase profit-booking in index. A strong resistance is seen 15,750-15,840 zone.

3:58 PM

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

Selling was triggered in the domestic market as investors remained cautious about the increasing Covid cases, especially in Asia. Despite the easing of restrictions, the manufacturing PMI data for June contracted to 48.1 from 50.8 in the previous month. However, the diminishing rate of domestic infection and progress in vaccination provided some comfort to the market. Positive auto sales numbers for June helped the sector to trade in positive territory.

3:56 PM