Sensex dips 124 pts, smallcaps shine; Paytm cracks 9%, Tata Motors up 2%

CLOSING BELL: HCL Tech (down 2.7 per cent), Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Wipro, ITC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, and HUL were top Sensex losers

Sensex dips 124 pts, smallcaps shine; Paytm cracks 9%, Tata Motors up 2%

CLOSING BELL

Stock market highlights: It was a lacklustre session for the markets on Friday as lack of fresh triggers kept indices within a narrow range. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 123.5 points, or 0.2 per cent, to settle at 60,682.7 levels today amid profit booking in HCL Tech (down 2.7 per cent), Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Wipro, ITC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, and HUL.

The Nifty50, meanwhile, closed at 17,857, down 37 points or 0.2 per cent. In the broader markets, the BSE SmallCap indices outshone its peers by rising 0.48 per cent. The BSE MidCap index settled flat with a positive bias.

Among individual shares, shares of Gautam Adani group companies continued to reel under pressure Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas hitting their respective 52-week lows on the BSE in Friday's intra-day trade. READ MORE

Besides, shares of digital financial services firm One97 Communications, which owns Paytm, slipped 9 per cent to Rs 640 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Friday's intra-day trade on the back of heavy volumes. READ MORE

Sectorally, the Nifty Metal index slipped 2 per cent, while the Nifty Realty index gained 1.36 per cent.

4:16 PM

Indian stock markets to continue underperforming EM peers: Morgan Stanley

Earlier in November 2022, Morgan Stanley had reiterated its stance on the Indian markets and said that the bull-run remained intact. Back then, they expected the Sensex to hit 80,000 levels by Dec '23. READ MORE

4:12 PM

COMMENT:: Fears of further policy tightening, Adani Group news flow weigh on sentiment

"Domestic indices lost ground following the global rout as investors speculated over the prospects of further policy tightening. Worries of a looming recession escalated as the President of Richmond Fed added to the hawkish comments by the Fed speakers. The announcement by MSCI to reduce the weighting of four Adani Group companies further hurt sentiments at home."

- Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

4:11 PM

Bank Nifty:: Short-covering likely above 41,800-level

"The BANK NIFTY index on the daily chart continued to consolidate between the 41,200-41,800 zone. The undertone remains bullish as long as the index holds the support of 41,200 and one should keep a buy-on-dip approach. The index if it breaks 41,800 on the upside will witness a sharp short covering on the upside towards the 43,000 level."

- Kunal Shah, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities

4:08 PM

HCL Tech slips 3% after MSCI reduces weightage

Shares of HCL Technologies slipped around 3 per cent to Rs 1,114 on Friday as the weightage of the information technology (IT) firm was reduced by 0.2 basis points in the MSCI index. The changes come into effect on March 1, 2023. READ MORE

4:04 PM

Paytm slips 9% after nearly 5% equity changes hands in block deal

Shares of digital financial services firm One97 Communications, which owns Paytm, slipped 9 per cent to Rs 640 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after around 32.25 million equity shares, representing nearly 5 per cent of total equity, changed hands on the counter. READ MORE

4:02 PM

Zomato dips 7% intra-day as Q3 loss widens to Rs 347 crore

Shares of restaurant aggregator Zomato dipped 7 per cent to Rs 50.35 after the company's losses widened to Rs 346.6 crore for the quarter that ended in December (Q3FY23). Global brokerage Jefferies believes outlook seems positive as break-even target stays, as early as Q4FY23 - another positive in the context of Zomato Gold. READ MORE

3:59 PM

CG Power hits new high, zooms over 100% in 9 months

Shares of CG Power and Industrial Solutions continued at their upward movement, hitting a new high of Rs 327, as they rallied 5 per cent on Friday. The rally comes after MSCI decided to include the Murugappa Group company in its India index. The changes will take place at the close of February 28, 2023. READ MORE

3:56 PM

HG Infra hits 52-week high, rallies 13% in two days post Q3 results

Shares of HG Infra Engineering hit a 52-week high of Rs 743 backed by heavy volumes. In the past two trading days, the stock has surged 13 per cent after the civil construction company reported a good set of numbers for the quarter ended December 2022 (Q3FY23). It surpassed its previous high of Rs 720, touched on January 20, 2022. READ MORE