Sensex slips 248 pts, Nifty near 19,600; Bajaj Auto zooms 6.5%, Nestle 3.5%

Closing Bell on Thursday, October 19, 2023: Bajaj Auto, LTIMindtree, and Nestle India were the top gainers, soaring 6.5%, 6%, and 3.5%, respectively, post their September quarter results

SI Reporter New Delhi

bear market, sensex, nifty, loss, growth, investment

Stock market highlights: Indian equities ended lower for a second straight day Thursday as investors remained cautious of the worsening geopolitical conditions in the Middle East. However, stock-specific action amid Q2FY24 results helped the markets trim losses.

The S&P BSE Sensex, which fell nearly 500 points in early deals, ended 248 points, or 0.4 per cent, lower at 65,629. The Nifty50, on the other hand, settled at 19,625, down 46 points, after hitting a low of 19,512.

Wipro, UPL, Tech M, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, Coal India, Tata Steel, HDFC Life, Dr Reddy's Labs, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, Reliance Industries, TCS, Bajaj Finance, ONGC, M&M, and Sun Pharma were the top laggards, down between 0.5 per cent and 3 per cent.

Bajaj Auto, LTIMindtree, and Nestle India, on the other hand, were the top gainers, soaring 6.5 per cent, 6 per cent, and 3.5 per cent, respectively, post their September quarter results. Hero MotoCorp, Ultratech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Grasim, BPCL, and Cipla were the other gainers, rising in the range of 1 per cent and 3.7 per cent.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap index ended f0.08 per cent down, while the BSE SmallCap index added 0.07 per cent.

Sectorally, gains in Bajaj Auto and Nestle helped the Nifty Auto and FMCG indices settle 0.5 per cent and 0.14 per cent higher, respectively. On the downside, the Nifty Metal index fell 0.88 per cent.

4:22 PM

Tech View :: 'Expect Nifty to stage pillback rally after recent weakness'

Nifty50
On the daily charts, the Nifty has taken support at the 19,530 – 19,500 zone where support in the form of the 61.82% Fibonacci retracement level of the previous rise form 19,333 – 19,850 is placed.

We expect the Nifty to stage a pullback after the recent sharp correction since the past couple of days. We believe that today’s low of 19,512 shall act as a crucial support and until that is not breached on the downside we can expect the Nifty to witness a pullback towards 19,730 – 19,800 from short term perspective.

Bank Nifty

There are signs of positive divergence developing on the daily momentum indicator as a new low in prices was not accompanied by a new low on the momentum indicator which indicates momentum on the downside is weakening and the probability of a pullback is high. We expect the Bank Nifty to witness a pullback towards 44,000 – 44,400 from short term perspective.

Views by: Jatin Gedia – Technical Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

4:10 PM

Comment :: 'Roller coaster ride for traders on weekly F&O expiry day'

It turned out to be a roller coaster ride for participants on the weekly expiry day as Nifty oscillated sharply on both sides and finally settled marginally lower at 19,624 level.

The recent price action in index shows indecision amid mixed cues. And, earnings has cascaded the choppiness on sectoral front too, making stock selection difficult for the traders.

We thus suggest limiting aggressive positions and preferring hedged trades until we see some clarity over next directional move.

Views by: Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking

4:08 PM

Comment :: Key triggers for the markets in near-term

Amid increasing global political strain, US treasury yield, and underwhelming IT earnings, the domestic market continued to trade with a minor cut.

However, some optimism was evident in the equity market given global efforts to stabilize the West Asia conflict, which deescalated crude prices trend.

Investors are closely monitoring the Q2 earnings season, US Fed chair speak and West Asia developments

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

4:05 PM