Sell-off Across Indices; Market Closes In Red

The Indian stock market witnessed a sell-off in the Tuesday trading session. All sectoral indices along with the benchmark indices ended in red. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 index ended 0.85 per cent lower at 24,139 whereas the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex settled nearly 700 points or 0.87 per cent lower at 78,956 levels on the closing bell.

Nifty Moves
In the Nifty 50 index, 12 stocks advanced in the positive territory and 36 stocks ended in the red territory, while Mahindra & Mahindra and Infosys ended flat. Among the winners, Titan surged highest with a 1.89 per cent gain, while Apollo Hospitals gained more than 1 per cent. Axis Bank, Dr Reddy, Tata Consumers, HCL Tech and Nestle India ended in green. Among the losers, BPCL shredded 3.5 per cent followed by a 3.43 per cent loss in HDFC Bank due to the MSCI Index shuffle. Shriram Finance, HDFC Life, Bajaj Finance, Tata Motors, Tata Consumers and Grasim Industries lost more than 2 per cent.

Analyst Note 
“The domestic market plunged into red terrain in the latter half, amidst mixed global sentiments. Recent IIP data indicates a lacklustre growth in the major manufacturing sector. Persistent selling by FIIs and elevated valuations is further contributing to the decline. Despite having minimal impact on the recent adverse developments, the market currently shifts attention towards underlying earnings growth, which remains bleak this quarter and may lead to a downgrade if resilience isn’t shown in subsequent quarters,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

“Domestic indices underperformed global equity markets as investors resorted to profit-taking in banking, IT, telecom, metals and oil and gas shares. Despite falling inflation levels, economists were of the view that inflation will rise once again, which could mean that RBI will not be in a hurry to tinker with interest rates in the near term. Also, current market valuations are very high and hence we may witness select profit booking with bouts of intra-day volatility in the near term,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.

Sectoral Movement
In terms of sectoral performance, Nifty Bank and Financial Services ended with a 1.48 per cent and 1.87 per cent loss, while PSU Banks ended 1.61 per cent lower. Metal shredded 1.64 per cent followed by 0.78 per cent loss in Auto. FMCG lost 0.28, while Pharma lost negligible, however IT ended flat. The more domestically focussed indices, Mid-cap dipped 0.78 per cent, whereas Small-cap dipped 1.3 per cent.