Banks Avail Rate Cuts; Sell-offs In Mid-small Cap, IT, Metals, Pharma

The Indian stock market gave up the initial gains of the opening session on Thursday despite a 50 basis points rate cut by the US Fed. Sell-offs among indices kept the market mood bearish.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 index 0.15 per cent higher at 25,415, while the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex also settled 236 points or 0.29 per cent higher at 83,184 levels on the closing bell.

Nifty Moves
In the Nifty 50 index, merely 28 stocks advanced in the positive territory, while 22 stocks ended in the red territory.

Among the winners NTPC topped the index with more than 2 per cent gain followed by more than 1 per cent gain in Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan, Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti and Tata Consumers.

Among the laggards, BPCL plummeted 3.47 per cent, while Coal India, ONGC, Adani Ports, Shriram Finance, LTI Mindtree, TCS and HCL Technology lost nearly 1 per cent.

Analyst Note  
“The benchmark indices concluded with a minor gain after hitting record highs post the US Fed’s more than expected interest rates cut of 50 bps and hinted for further reduction. The substantial rate cut sparked concerns over global slowdown, resulting in profit booking in mid and small cap trading at premium valuation. Meanwhile, domestic heavyweight sectors like banking and FMCG saw buying interest, driven by foreign inflows and the RBI's monetary easing expected in October,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Sectoral Movement
In terms of sectoral performance, Nifty Bank and Financial Services ended with 0.54 per cent and 0.32 per cent gain respectively, while PSU Banks ended 0.65 per cent lower.

Auto, FMCG and Realty gained around half a per cent, while Metal, Pharma and IT ended 0.64 per cent, 0.41 per cent and 0.34 per cent respectively.

The more domestically focussed indices, Mid-cap shredded 0.67 per cent, whereas Small-cap dipped 1.26 per cent.