Sensex ends choppy day 42 pts up; Asian Paints jumps 8%, Tata Steel down 4%

On a weekly basis, both, the Sensex and the Nifty50 indices slipped around 1 per cent each

MARKET LIVE: Sensex, Nifty fluctuate; Nifty Metal dips 3%, FMCG stocks gain

Stock market updates: Domestic equity markets traded within a narrow range on Friday, fluctuating between gains and losses, as a slew of downgrades in the GDP growth forecasts for FY22 along with slowdown in the vaccination programme amid supply crunch kept investors indecisive about the market direction.

India recorded over 343,000 fresh Covid-19 infections on Friday, taking the caseload tally to little over 24 million. According to a government official, two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be made available in the country between August and December, enough to vaccinate the entire population. This comes after Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka decided to suspend the vaccination for people in the 18-44 age group till further orders amid acute shortage of vaccines.

However, favourable global cues helped the indices to limit losses. In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.3 per cent, with banks and retail stocks leading the gains, following a healthy session in Asia.

Barring Singaporean shares, all other Asian stocks strengthened on reassurances from the US Federal Reserve that a spike in inflation was temporary, with China and South Korea shares advancing 1.7 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively. Singapore stocks, on the other hand, tumbled more than 3 per cent after the city-state's imposed strict Covid-19 curbs.

Against this backdrop, the BSE barometer of 30-shares culminated the session at 48,732.5 levels, adding 42 points or 0.09 per cent. During the choppy session, the index hit a high and low of 48,899 and 48,473, respectively.

On the NSE, the broader 50-share index defended the 14,650-mark to settle at 14,678 levels, down 19 points or 0.13 per cent.

Overall, 21 of the 30 shares on the Sensex and 34 of the 50 constituents of the Nifty ended the day in the red. Coal India, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Grasim, and IndusInd Bank on the Nifty and M&M, SBI, ONGC, Dr Reddy's Labs, and NTPC on the Sensex ended the day as top laggards.

On a weekly basis, both, the Sensex and the Nifty50 indices slipped around 1 per cent each.

On the upside, Asian Paints, UPL, ITC, Nestle India, L&T, HUL, Britannia, PowerGrid, and Reliance Industries were the combined top gainers of the day.

Profit-taking in the broader markets was sharper than benchmarks. The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices lost 1.2 per cent each.

Sectorally, the Nifty Metal index nursed the steepest loss of around 4 per cent, followed the Nifty Realty index, down 3 per cent and the Nifty PSU Bank and Auto indices, down 2 per cent each. On the upside, only Nifty FMCG index ended in the green, up 2 per cent.

5:05 PM

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

The market continues to witness a lack of momentum and stayed in the range between 14600 to 14750. As of now, the short-term technical condition of the market appears like a sideways correction is in the process. While it is subject to further price action evolution, It is prudent to wait for a decisive breakout above 14800 and technical factors to improve before going long in the market. The traders to refrain from building a fresh buying position until further improvement is seen and breakout above 14800.

4:56 PM

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

The short term trend of Nifty is choppy with weak bias. The present market action signal chances of an upside bounce in the coming sessions. The confirmation of higher bottom at 14591 (Friday's Low) is expected to pull the market on upside. The next upper levels to be watched around 14900-15000 in the next one week. Immediate support is placed at 14590.

4:46 PM

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

The last week has been volatile for the traders, the week started on a positive note but due to extremely uncertain global cues index shed over 370/ 1100 points or nearly 1 percent.

Among Sectors, after a robust rally metal stocks witnessed profit booking, in this week alone the Metal index corrected over 4.5 percent.

Whereas, some buying was seen in PSU Banks and selective FMCG stocks. Technically, on daily charts the market has formed a lower top kind of formation, but at the same time the Nifty is hovering near 20 and 50 day SMA with modest volume activity.

We are of the view that, the broader texture of the market is still in to the bullish but due to weak global market conditions market may consolidate in the range of 14500 -14800/48200 - 49200 in the near future 14590/48470 should act as a strong support level for traders below the same correction wave likely to continue up to 14500/48200. Further down side may also continue which could drag in the index up to 14390/47800. On the flip side, 14800/49200 should be the sacrosanct level for the bulls above the same uptrend wave likely to continue up to 14950-15100. /49750-50100

4:36 PM

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

Indian benchmark equity indices ended flat after a mildly volatile day on May 14. Nifty opened slightly higher but kept seeing repeated bouts of sell-offs followed by bounces through the day. At close, the Nifty was down 18.70 points or 0.13% at 14677.80.

After two weeks of gains, the Nifty ended the week 0.98% lower as coronavirus cases continue to surge, triggering concerns that a wider lockdown may be reimposed. Advance decline ratio was again negative suggesting continued profit taking in the broad market. The sell-off seen in The US markets on May 12 has unnerved a lot of investors as the likelihood of inflation/interest rate hike led sell-off across the globe is becoming stronger. However as the Nifty refuses to close at the intra day lows over the past two days, hopes of a short term upmove are still alive. 14506-14851 seems to be the new band for the Nifty for the near term.

4:26 PM

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

Market swung between gains and losses in today’s volatile trade as gains in Consumer and Capital goods were countered by losses in Metals and Auto stocks. Owing to a decline in food prices, April’s retail inflation eased to 4.29% while Industrial production for March registered a growth of 22.4% supported by lower base. Global markets traded with optimism on Fed official comment stating that they are not much concerned about long-term inflation

4:17 PM

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

Index closed a week at 14678 with loss of nearly one per cent and formed a dark cloud cover sort of candle pattern on weekly chart which is bearish reversal candle by nature. Supports are still placed at 14600-14500 zone holding above said levels structure mildly bullish and we may see some extension in current pull back towards strong hurdle zone of 14800-14950 zone where one can lock in their profits

4:06 PM

Markets this week :: Top losers on NSE

JSW Steel (6.6%)

Grasim (5.7%)

Hindalco (4.6%)

Adani Ports (4.5%)

Axis Bank (4.4%)

4:05 PM

Markets this week :: Top gainers on NSE

PSU Bank & PSU Index gain over 3% each for the week.

Individual gainers: Asian Paints (8.5%), UPL (7.5%), Power Grid (6.7%), IOC (6.7%), Coal India (4.3%)

3:59 PM