Sensex Ends Flat, Nifty Settles at 15,780 Amid High Volatility on Expiry Day; Zomato, Paytm Down Up To 6%
Key benchmark indices ended the volatile week on a tepid note as they erased the day’s gains to close flat amid weakness in US stock futures and European markets. Sensex and Nifty kept swinging between the red and green zones throughout the choppy session. The Sensex closed 8 points lower at 53,018. The index had risen 136 points to touch an intra-day high of 53,377. The NSE Nifty50 index ended 19 points down at 15,780. The index had risen 90 points to its day’s high of 15,890.
Top Gainers and Losers
On the Sensex, only 11 stocks closed in green. Axis Bank, SBI, Kotak Bank, NTPC, L&T, Reliance, ICICI Bank, Titan and PowerGrid rose 0.3-1.7 per cent. Divis Labs, Britannia and SBI Life were the additonal winners on the Nifty.
On the downside, Tech M, Bajaj twins, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, M&M, Nestle, Ultratech Cement, Eicher Motors, Cipla, BPCL JSW Steel, Shree Cement and Coal India were the top drags across the two benchmarks, closing up to 3.5 per cent lower.
The broader markets suffered more losses than the frontline indices. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices shed 0.5 and 0.7 per cent, respectively.
Sectorally, Nifty Banks and financials were the sole outperformers, ending around 0.5 per cent up. On the flip side, metals led losses closing 2 per cent down. Other top drags were auto, IT, realty, and PSBs, which cracked a per cent each.
Among stocks, Indus Towers gained 2.5 per cent on buzz of a likely large block deal in today’s trade of 1.89 crore shares.
Indian Oil Corp (IOC) also rose 2 per cent as stock turns ex-date for bonus issue.
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “Fed chief Powel renewed his hawkish statement yesterday that the central bank is determined to control inflation and that “soft landing is possible, but extremely challenging”. From the market perspective, what is interesting is that the US markets largely ignored this and ended almost flat. This may be an early indication that the markets are bottoming out. The decline in FPI selling to Rs 851 crore yesterday from the June average of around Rs 2700 crore also can be interpreted as early signs of selling exhaustion. Data will have to be watched to see whether this trend sustains.”
“In the near-term market movement will be increasingly influenced by the FY23 Q1 results expected from the second week of July onwards. Results of banking, IT and autos (PVs and CVs particularly) are likely to be good and those of metals, cement and some FMCG may disappoint,” he added.
Global Cues
Asian shares were ending a rough quarter in a sombre mood on Thursday amid fears central banks’ cure for inflation will end up sickening the global economy, though it is proving to be a fillip for the safe-haven dollar and government bonds.
Tokyo shares opened lower on Thursday after US stocks ended flat, with investors searching for new trading cues. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.19 per cent, or 51.32 points, to 26,753.28 at the open, while the broader Topix index lost 0.34 per cent, or 6.48 points, to 1,887.09.
The S&P 500 ended a seesaw session slightly down on Wednesday as investors staggered toward the finish line of a downbeat month, a dismal quarter, and the worst first-half for Wall Street’s benchmark index since President Richard Nixon’s first term.
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