Sensex ends mildly in red after rangebound trade, Nifty snaps 3-day gains
The market closed mildly in red after rangebound trade on Tuesday as investors digested GST driven rally and awaited June quarter earnings that will begin next week. Weak global cues due to North Korean missile launch also weighed.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 11.83 points at 31,209.79, dragged by banks, auto, infra and FMCG stocks. However, the buying in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC and Infosys capped downside.
The 50-share NSE Nifty smartly managed to hold 9,600 level, down 1.70 points at 9,613.30 and snapped three-day winning streak.
Experts expect the consolidation to continue for rest of the week, especially ahead of June quarter earnings. According to them, the short term trend of the market will be driven by earnings.
If earnings disappoint then the market may see some reaction but not a knee-jerk one.
“Two domestic factors which could drive the market in the near-term are high valuation and Q1FY18 results which are likely to be muted due to de-stocking,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said.
Global headwinds like FOMC minutes on Wednesday will be eagerly watched to find stance of Federal Reserve’s policy action in CY17, he added.
The broader markets also closed flat with a negative bias due to balanced breadth. About 1,349 shares advanced against 1,315 declining shares on the BSE.
On the global front, European markets were lower as international relations came under pressure and oil prices slipped. France’s CAC, Germany’s DAX and Britain’s FTSE were down 0.2 percent each at the time of writing this article. Asian bourses ended mostly lower after North Korea launched a missile.
Back home, cigarette major ITC lost 1.5 percent on profit booking after a 6 percent rally in previous session.
Among banks, Axis Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were down 0.2-2 percent while auto stocks like Hero Motocorp, Tata Motors, M&M and Bajaj Auto fell 0.7-2 percent.
Reliance Industries was the top gainer among Sensex stocks, up 2.8 percent followed by HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Infosys with a percent gain.
Among midcaps, Jaiprakash Associates, Jaiprakash Power, Reliance Communications, GMR Infra, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Aditya Birla Money were down 1-7 percent.
Footwear makers Relaxo Footwears, Bata and Mirza International rallied 4-13 percent, which may be after Khadim India filed IPO papers with SEBI.
After tepid listing, GTPL Hathway closed 1 percent higher at Rs 171.65 against issue price of Rs 170.
