Sensex, Nifty Close In Red; ONGC & Power Grid Surge

Indices erased all early gains and slipped into the red dragged by Banks and IT stocks in the second half of the trading session. A total of 15 stocks recorded a decline in the 30-share BSE index while 26 declined in the 50-share Nifty index.

Sensex slipped by 0.1%, or 49.46 points, at 52,104.17. Nifty 50 was, however, above 15,300. The Nifty Bank index after hitting a record high of 37,708.75, closed down by 207 points at 37,098.40.

Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Nestle ended among the top losers and contributed the most in the downward march as strong profit booking was witnessed in the stocks.

ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited ), Power Grid Corporation and Adani Transmission added over 5%, 6% and 10% respectively. ONGC reported Net Sales at Rs 17,023.80 crore in Q3 results.

Jay Thakkar - VP & Head of Equity Research at Marwadi Shares and Finance, said, "The market may inch towards 53,500 in the near-term whereas 51,200 is now crucial support on the lower side".

Shares of SIS on Tuesday, February 16, surged over 9% and reached the day's high of 459 after the company announced buy-back of shares worth Rs 100 crore on February 15.

Manish Hathiramani, Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments, alerted the investors to stay cautious against volatility. "The index continued its upward momentum with yet another gap up opening. We are steadily heading to 15,500 which should be the next target and level of resistance for the Nifty. While a good support lies at 15,100, traders should lock in profits at regular intervals and update stops as well. Since we are at market highs any drop or correction can make the markets volatile. Hence, extreme caution should be exercised at all times", he said.

Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research Limited, commenting on the session said, "Nifty 50 Index is still holding above the support level of 15,250. Investors should buy on a breakout of 15,370 and look for an exit around 15,520. Overall, the investor should maintain a stop at 15,250."

IPO Update:

IPO of RailTel corporation has been subscribed 1.57 times on the first day of the issue and the retail portion has been subscribed 3 times on February 16. Heranba Industries- A Gujrat based crop protection chemical manufacturer, has received the approval to launch their IPO on February 23, 2021 at Rs 626/share for a minimum order of 23 shares.

Ruchit Purohit

BW Reporters The author is a Trainee Journalist at BW Businessworld based in Mumbai. He tracks the Markets and related news.