Sensex, Nifty close lower after rangebound trade; PSU banks, FMCG, metals drag

Equity benchmarks closed a rangebound session moderately lower on Thursday due to profit-booking, even as investors look for more corporate earnings. Reliance Industries (down 0.3 percent) and Wipro (down 0.83 percent) will announce earnings later today.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 50.95 points at 31,904.40 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 26.30 points to 9,873.30 despite positive global cues. It was weighed down by correction in FMCG, technology, metals and pharma stocks.

Experts expect the consolidation to continue on Friday, especially after the recent run-up. They feel the Nifty may make an attempt to hit 10,000 level in the near-term.

“We’re currently seeing a balancing act in the markets, waiting for some fresh trigger and the result of index major, Reliance Industries, could be the one,” Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities said.

That said, the market tone is still bullish and any decline should be considered as an opportunity to go long, according to him.

HDFC Securities said, “Nifty managed to hold on to 9800 support and now that becomes the base for the short-term.”

The broader markets also were under pressure, with the BSE Midcap index falling half a percent on weak breadth. About 1,457 shares declined against 1,263 advancing shares on the exchange.

Kotak Mahindra Bank fell 1.44 percent and Bajaj Auto declined 0.2 percent after disappointing June quarter earnings. ABB India gained more than 6 percent but managed to settle with only 0.4 percent gains post Q2 numbers.

ONGC gained 1.75 percent and HPCL lost 4 percent after the Cabinet gave ONGC in-principle approval to buy government’s stake in HPCL.

Axis Bank was the biggest gainer among largecap stocks, up nearly 4 percent followed by HDFC Bank that helped Nifty Bank end 0.25 percent higher on the weekly expiry day. Tata Steel, ITC, Infosys, ICICI Bank, SBI and Maruti Suzuki declined up to 2.6 percent.

Godrej Industries rallied 2 percent after subsidiary Godrej Agrovet filed IPO papers with SEBI while Just Dial surged 6.7 percent ahead of board meeting on July 24 to consider buyback of shares.

Sterlite Technologies was locked at 20 percent upper circuit on top of 9 percent rally in previous session after stellar earnings performance whereas Canara Bank, Mindtree, Force Motors and Kansai Nerolac fell up to 5 percent after June quarter numbers.

Bajaj Hindusthan, Dhampur Sugar, Mawana Sugars, Rajshree Sugars, Sakthi Sugars, Shree Renuka Sugars, Simbhaoli Sugar, Triveni Engineering and Ugar Sugar rallied 2-10 percent.

European bourses were higher, supported by a surge in global stocks, as investors awaited a rate decision by the European Central Bank (ECB). France’s CAC, Germany’s DAX and Britain’s FTSE were up 0.3-0.7 percent at the time of writing this article. Asian indexes closed higher as investors digested news out of the Bank of Japan.
Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.