Sensex, Nifty Close in Red Amid Profit Booking

The Sensex and Nifty snapped its two day winning streak to close in the red ahead of the monthly expiry due tomorrow. 

Experts said that traders are refraining to hold positions and profit booking is witnessed from higher levels which is dragging the markets.

Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities, said, "Index opened a day with a small gap but unable to sustain on highs & showed profit booking resulting closed a day at 18210 with loss of half percent and formed again a bearish candle on the daily chart. "

At close, the BSE Sensex was down 206.93 points at 61,143.33, while the Nifty-50 was down 57.45 points at 18,210.95. Shares of Axis Bank tanked over six per cent in the day's trade post Q2 announcement, whereas Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv dipped over four and one per cent, respectively. However, on the flipside, Asian Paints surged more than four per cent after the company hiked prices.

Sectorally, except for IT, Pharma, FMCG, PSU Banks, and Realty, all other sectors ended in the red amid selling pressure from investors. The Nifty Metal index shed over one per cent dragged by shares of Vedanta (-4.60 per cent), NALCO (-4.59 per cent), and Jindal Steel (-3.43 per cent).

On the other hand, the PSU Banking stocks saw good momentum and appetite among investors. Shares of JK Bank surged more than five per cent, while those of Union Bank, Canara Bank, and Bank of Baroda advanced between 2-4 per cent each.

In the trading session tomorrow, experts beleive that markets will closely watch the earnings outcome and selective index majors will be in action in the early trade tomorrow.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking, said, "Markets are closely watching earnings for cues and we’ll see the reaction to the numbers of select index majors in early trade on Thursday."

In the overall market action, 932 shares advanced and 885 shares declined in the NSE.