Market Wrap Podcast, Aug 23: Here's all that happened in the markets today

Tracking an upbeat global market mood, benchmark Sensex and Nifty snapped their two-day losing run to end the volatile session on a firm note, with a major chunk of gains parked in IT names and index heavyweight Reliance Industries. The BSE barometer Sensex rose 226 points or 0.41% to 55,556. Nifty ended shy of 16,500 mark at 16,496, up 46 points or 0.28%.

HCL Tech, TCS, Bajaj Finserv and Nestle India were the top gainers in 30-pack Sensex. Each of these stocks also hit their respective all-time highs in trade today. Nestle India even touched Rs 20,000 mark for the first time. On the other hand, auto majors M&M and Bajaj Auto were the top losers followed by Ultratech Cement and Power Grid. The advance-decline ratio on Sensex was at 1:1 but for BSE it was at 1:3, indicating that for every one stock that rose three fell.

The poor market breadth can be attributed to heavy selling visible in the mid & smallcap names. While both indices recovered nearly 1% from day's low, they still ended in the red. BSE Midcap lost 0.90% and BSE Smallcap 1.55%.  

In the sectoral landscape, only Nifty IT, Financial Services and Bank closed with gains. The IT index rose 1.7% and even hit a new high in intra-day session. Meanwhile, Nifty Media was the worst loser, down 1.7%. Nifty Auto too lost over 1% and Nifty Realty 0.99%.

On the stock-specific front, shares of Nuvoco Vistas opened at a discount of 17% on the BSE to list at Rs 471 per share as against the issue price of Rs 570. Later, the scrip recouped losses to end 13% above its listing price but 7% below the IPO price.

That said, the recently listed Zomato also faced heavy selling pressure after the anchor investors' lock-in period came to an end. The stock tumbled 9% to Rs 127 on the BSE. It touched a low of Rs 124.9 in trade today.

Shares of Airtel, RIL and Vodafone Idea rose up to 1.5% after a media report stated that India is considering allowing telecom players to pay the AGR dues over a period of 20 years, an extension from 10 years earlier. Further, in another news Reliance Jio added 5.5 million subscribers to its network in June, followed by Bharti Airtel with 3.8 million users, while Vodafone Idea continued with its losing streak by shedding another 4.3 million customers, as per the latest data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Arvind Fashions gained 9% to Rs 262 after the company's board approved preferential allotment of equity shares aggregating to Rs 439 crore to various marquee investors, including promoters at the price of Rs 218.50.

Now, going into trade on Tuesday, while global cues will continue to guide market sentiment, any stock-specifc action can also sway market moves. Lastly, shares of Chemplast Sanmar and Aptus Value will list on the bourses.