The Indian stock market defied the expected downfall in the Monday trading session after the Hindenburg allegations on the market regulator and its chairperson. After the fluctuation throughout the session, the market closed with marginal moves in the benchmark as well as sectoral indices.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 index ended 0.08 per cent lower at 24,347 whereas the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex settled 57 points or 0.07 per cent lower at 79,648 levels on the closing bell.
Nifty Moves
In the Nifty 50 index, 22 stocks advanced in the positive territory and 27 stocks ended in the red territory, while BPCL remained flat.
Among the winners ONGC surged highest with 2.63 per cent gain, while Hero Motocorp gained 2 per cent. Axis Bank, Infosys, JSW Steel, Divis Lab and Hindalco gained more than 1 per cent.
Among the losers NTPC and Adani Ports shredded more than 2 per cent. Dr Reddy, Britannia, SBI Bank, Power Grid, Apollo Hospitals, Tata Consumers and five more stocks dipped more than 1 per cent.
Analyst Note
“The Hindenburg allegations now against a key official of the market regulator weighed on the sentiment in early trades, but indices recovered soon to trade higher only to give away all their gains towards the close to end marginally lower on selective profit taking. In case the row heats up further, it could impact sentiment going ahead and profit taking could continue, although global cues would still determine the broader market mood,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.
"The Indian market exhibited a mild optimism, although the initial path was eclipsed by continuation of the Adani-Hindenburg-Sebi saga. However, the market brushed away these noises, taking positive cues from global markets. Moreover, the domestic market is anticipating ease in CPI inflation, which is going to be further supported by a good monsoon. Yet, the upside risk remains still, given firm oil prices and volatility in food inflation,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Sectoral Movement
In terms of sectoral performance, Nifty Bank and Financial Services ended with slight gains, while PSU Banks ended 1.18 per cent lower.
FMCG suffered 0.79 per cent loss and Auto dipped 0.27 per cent, while Pharma ended almost flat. Metal gained 0.75 per cent followed by slight gains in IT, whereas Nifty Realty traded with 1.3 per cent gain.
The more domestically focussed indices, Mid-cap gained 0.27 per cent, whereas Small-cap gained 0.19 per cent.