Nifty, Sensex End Lower On Global Weakness
In the Nifty 50 index, 17 stocks advance in the positive territory, and 31 stocks end in the red territory, while HDFC Life and Kotak Mahindra Bank remain unchanged
The Indian stock market traded sluggish in the Wednesday trading session as global peers appeared weak. The benchmark indices ended lower, while sectoral indices displayed mixed trade.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 index was 0.32 per cent lower at 25,198, while the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex also settled 202 points or 0.25 per cent lower at 82,352 levels on the closing bell.
Nifty Moves
In the Nifty 50 index, 17 stocks advanced in the positive territory, and 31 stocks ended in the red territory, while HDFC Life and Kotak Mahindra Bank remained unchanged.
Among the winners, Asian Paints surged 2.43 per cent to top the index followed by a 1.88 per cent gain in Grasim Industries. Apollo Hospitals, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma and Ultra Tech Cement traded more than 1 per cent higher.
Among the losers, Wipro and Coal India plunged more than 3 per cent, while ONGC shredded more than 2 per cent. Hindalco, M&M and LTI Mindtree also plummeted.
Analyst Note
“The warning signals from weak US manufacturing data added concerns about a potential slowdown in the US economy, which dragged the domestic indices. Further, a sluggish Chinese outlook exacerbated the decline in oil prices to a nine-month low. Due to a lack of major domestic triggers, the indices will take direction based on global cues,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
“Weakness in European and Asian indices, and especially a steep fall in the Japanese Nikkei index exacerbated the sentiment in local markets leading to profit-taking by investors in IT, banking, metals and oil and gas shares. However, benchmark indices pared losses in late trades, but still ended weak as the recent upsurge had seen the market scaling new highs and bulls were showing signs of wear-off,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.
Sectoral Movement
In terms of sectoral performance, Nifty Bank ended 0.56 per cent lower and Financial Services lost 0.37 per cent, while PSU Banks ended with a 1.69 per cent loss.
IT led losses with a nearly 1 per cent dip followed by a 0.75 per cent weakness in Metal and a 0.39 per cent loss in Auto. However, Pharma, Realty and FMCG climbed 0.74 per cent, 0.65 per cent and 0.41 per cent respectively.
The more domestically focussed indices, Mid-cap dipped marginally, whereas small-cap ended flat.
