Indices fall in volatile trade, Sensex, Nifty end in red after gaining for 4 days; keys from today’s trade

Indian share market benchmarks BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 ended the 4-day gaining streak on Thursday, mainly due to losses in Infosys and bank stocks. BSE Sensex fell 149 points or 0.37 per cent to end at 40,558, while the broader Nifty 50 index finished 41 points or 0.35 per cent down at 11,896. Index heavyweights such as Infosys, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries (RIL), ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank contributed the most to the indices loss today. Analysts said that after the formation of bearish engulfing pattern of 15th Oct, Nifty failed to show any weakness below this pattern (11661) in the last five sessions. “The short term trend of Nifty is range bound with minor weak bias. There is a possibility of continuation of range bound action around 11850-11950 levels by next session. Immediate supports to be watched at 11800 and crucial upside hurdle is placed at 12025,” said Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

NTPC ends up 3%: NTPC was the top Sensex gainer, up over 3 per cent to finish at Rs 84.85 apiece on BSE. Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, ONGC, were up in the range of 1.5-2.8 per cent. HUL shares gained 0.74 per cent, while ITC added half a per cent.

IndusInd Bank worst-performer: IndusInd Bank was the worst-performing stock, falling 3.10 per cent. ICICI Bank, Titan Company, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries (RIL), Maruti Suzuki were among other Sensex laggards, which dragged the index 150 points.

Mid-, small-caps outperform: The broader market outperformed the equity benchmarks in today’s trade. The S&P BSE MidCap index gained 0.54 per cent to end at 14,888 while the S&P BSE SmallCap index gained 0.85 per cent or 127.40 points to settle at 15,028.

Nifty Pharma index top sectoral loser: The trend among sectoral indices was largely negative, with Nifty Pharma index as top sectoral loser. The index was down nearly one per cent dragged by losses in Auro Pharma, Biocon, Cipla and Sun Pharmaceuticals shares.

Equitas SFB IPO fully subscribed: The 518-crore Equitas Small Finance Bank initial public offering (IPO) was fully subscribed on the third and final day of bidding process. Ahead of subscription window closing, the issue received bids for 22.22 crore units as against 11.58 crore equity shares that were on offer, translating to 1.93 times subscription rate.

Rupee snaps 3-day losing spree: Indian rupee closed at 73.53 per US dollar on Thursday, as compared to a close of 73.58 per US dollar in the previous session. Indian rupee gained after three days falls as the Dollar index fell on hope of US fiscal stimulus. “Dollar selling by exporters added to selling pressure. RBI’s announcement of Open Market Operation to support the economy and expectation of new fiscal stimulus supported the positive sentiments,” said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities. Vakil added that technically, USD-INR spot is having strong resistance at 74 odd levels while 73 is acting as support for the month.