Sensex ends flat on late profit taking, midcaps shine; Nifty down 2% for week
Equity benchmarks erased all gains in late trade may be due to profit booking ahead of the long weekend. The Sensex lost 240 points from its day’s high to end flat.
The rally that lifted the Nifty to over 9,800 level was largely on hope of no impact on fiscal deficit after the government stuck to its budgeted market borrowing for the current fiscal year. However, traders started booking profits in last hour of trade after sources told CNBC-TV18 that the government would have some room to borrow extra Rs 1 lakh crore in second half of FY18 (on top of total FY18 borrowing target of Rs 5.8 lakh crore) if needed.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 1.24 points at 31,283.72 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 19.65 points to 9,788.60.
The stability in the market seen in last two sessions was just a consolidation after more than 4 percent correction. The correction is not over yet, experts feel. According to them, there could be 2-3 percent correction in the near term.
“This could be bottom-forming process and some sideways trade after recent sharp fall, but the market could drift lower further,” Dipan Mehta, Member BSE said.
According to him, the market bottom could be seen after 2-3 percent correction.
He advises investors to increase exposure to equity on these dips, rebalance portfolio and be ready for next upsurge.
Jyotivardhan Jaipuria, Founder & MD, Veda Investment Managers also expects more correction before a sharp recovery.
“The fall we have seen so far has been a minor blip. Most bull markets saw 5-10 percent corrections and recent correction might end up being in the 7-8 percent range,” Jaipuria said.
The broader markets outperformed benchmarks throughout session but the rally was not driven by big stocks barring few.
The Nifty Midcap index gained 0.93 percent and Smallcap was up 1.4 percent on strong market breadth. About two shares advanced for every share falling on the NSE.
For the week, the Sensex lost 2 percent and the Nifty shed 1.8 percent while Nifty Midcap declined 1.5 percent.
Auto, metals, select banks and pharma stocks supported the market but FMCG and IT stocks saw selling pressure.
GAIL was biggest gainer among Nifty stocks, up nearly 6 percent after the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has issued a public consultation paper for authorisation of unified tariff for integrated pipelines of the company. Sharekhan said if the unified tariff of Rs 68.8/mmbtu (against existing tariff of around Rs 37.1 per mmbtu) is implemented then GAIL’s FY2019 earnings would see significant increase.
Aurobindo Pharma was up 2.35 percent as sources told CNBC-TV18 that the US FDA issued establishment inspection report for company’s Unit 4 plant that was inspected during April 20-28. The plant was issued 7 observations in April 2017 inspection.
Auto Index rallied 1 percent ahead of September sales data due on Sunday. Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Hero Motocorp, Ashok Leyland and TVS Motor gained 1-5 percent.
Bajaj Finance (down 0.33 percent), HPCL (up 2.75 percent) and UPL (up 1.4 percent) added in the Nifty50 index today.
In broader space, Indiabulls Real Estate, Bombay Burmah, Indiabulls Ventures, Hitachi Home, Shoppers Stop, Avenue Supermarts, MEP Infrastructure, Rupa & Company, Inox, Lovable Lingerie, Tilaknagar Industries, Leel Electicals, GVK Power, Jaiprakash Associates, Jaiprakash Power, Kalpataru Power and Unitech were up 3-11 percent. However, BEML and IRB Infrastructure fell 3-4 percent.
