Monday, December 23, 2024 | 08:36 PM ISTEN Hindi

Sensex snaps 4-day winning run, slips 215 pts ahead of US Fed rate decision

Market Wrap: Bharti Airtel, Maruti, HCL Technologies and Hindustan Unilever were the prominent losers, while ITC and Sun Pharma finished with steady gains.

SI Reporter New Delhi

Photo: Bloomberg

STOCK MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

The key benchmark indices snapped their four-day winning streak ahead of the US Federal Reserve meet outcome later tonight. Investors expect the global central bank to hike interest rates by 75 basis points, with hopes of softening the rate hike cycle thereafter.

The S&P BSE Sensex touched a high of 61,210 in opening trades, but soon slipped into red and drifted to a low of 60,794 on the back of weakness in IT, telecom and select auto stocks. The Sensex finally ended 215 points lower at 60,906.

The NSE Nifty ended with a loss of 62 points at 18,083.

Among the Sensex 30 shares, Bharti Airtel shed 3 per cent, and Maruti declined 2.5 per cent. HCL Technologies, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, Axis Bank and Nestle India were the other prominent losers.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma extended gains post it's strong Q2 results and was up 1.7 per cent. ITC hit a new record high and finished 1.3 per cent higher. READ MORE

The broader market exhibited a mixed trend. The BSE Midcap index eked a 0.1 per cent loss, while the Smallcap index added 0.2 per cent. The overall market breadth was marginally positive, with 1,799 stocks advancing versus 1,668 stocks declining on the BSE.

Among sectoral indices, the BSE Telecom index dropped 1.3 per cent. The Realty index too was down a per cent. The IT and Power indices were down over 0.5 per cent each, while the Metal index advanced 0.7 per cent.

Buzzing Stocks

LIC Housing Finance plunged 8.5 per cent after the company reported a disappointing set of numbers for Q2FY23. READ MORE

Karnataka Bank was locked at the 20 per cent upper circuit of Rs 112.55, after the bank's net profit grew 228 per cent YoY (an all-time quarterly high) to Rs 411.5 crore in Q2FY23. READ MORE

4:18 PM

TECH VIEW :: 'Short covering rally may take Nifty towards 18,500-18,800'

The Nifty index witnessed some selling pressure from the higher level ahead of the FED meeting. The undertone remains bullish and once the index breaks above 18,200, we will witness a sharp short covering on the upside towards the 18,500-18,800 levels. The lower-end support stands at the 17,950-1,7800 zone which will act as a cushion on the downside.

Views by: Kunal Shah, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities

4:12 PM

MARKET COMMENT :: 'Trend to remain positive despite volatility'

Markets traded dull and ended marginally lower, taking a breather after the recent surge. After the flat start, profit taking pushed the index gradually lower however marginal rebound in the final hours trimmed losses. Consequently, the Nifty index settled at 18,075; down by 0.38%. Most sectoral indices traded in tandem with the benchmark and ended with a marginal cut. Meanwhile, movement on the stock-specific front kept participants busy till the end.

Markets will react to the outcome of the US Fed meet in early trades and then the focus would shift to the MPC’s special meet. The outcome of these events could trigger some volatility but the market tone is likely to remain positive. We thus recommend focusing more on accumulating quality stocks on dips.

Views by: Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking

3:58 PM

MARKET COMMENT :: 'Market movement will be determined by US Fed commentary'

With the FOMC's outcome around the corner, profit booking and a risk-off mood dragged the domestic market to trade with cuts. Meanwhile, strong US employment figures dented expectations for a slowdown in rate hikes. Since the market has already priced in a 75 bps rate hike by the Fed, market movement will be determined by their comments on its next moves.

Views by: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

3:57 PM