Sensex, Nifty give up two day gaining streak; bank stocks bleed, drag equity markets down

Domestic benchmark indices ended the day with losses, slamming the brakes on their two-day gaining streak. Sensex tanked 323 points while the Nifty 50 gave up the 11,550 mark to end at 11,519. Only 4 of the 30 Sensex constituents finished the day’s trade with gains. Volatility was seen inching higher to close above 20 levels. Stock markets followed the lead of global peers that were visibly not impressed after the US Fed decided to keep interest rates near zero. Analysts say that markets were disappointed by the lack of further inputs or immediate stimulus measures.

Information technology shines: Stock exchanges witnessed remarkable performance yet again by HCL Technologies and other IT shares. The BSE Information Technology shares ended 0.23% and the Nifty IT index gained 0.16%. “Today we saw IT & Pharma bucking the weak trend as smart buying was seen across several counters in both the sectors,” said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

Happiest Minds’ bumper listing: Happiest Minds Technologies after a strong IPO subscription today made its stock market debut and was listed at a premium of 111%. Shares of the IT company reached a high of Rs 395 per share. The stock closed at Rs 371 apiece, up by 123% from the issue price. 

Top gainers: While markets were bearish today, refusing to move higher there were some stocks that broke away to surge higher. Apollo Hospitals gained over 5% while Dr Reddy’s was up over 4%, followed by Apollo Tyres, Mphasis, Zee Entertainment Ltd, IndiGo, Mindtree, among others.

Financials bleed: Stocks from the banking and finance space dragged the indices lower on Thursday. On BSE Sensex, most of the bank stocks were in deep red. S&P BSE Bankex index slipped 1.16% while Nifty PSU bank was down 1.23%.

Global watch: In Asia all major stock markets ended the day in the red. Shanghai Composite was down in the red and so was Hang Seng. KOSPI and KOSDAQ were over 1% down. Asian and European stocks weakened Thursday, with traders reacting to the US Federal Reserve’s decision laying out no additional stimulus and its cautious outlook on the world’s top economy,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

Technical take: “We recovered some ground after the gap down opening this morning. We are still looking strong and seem to be heading towards the potential target of 11800. The Nifty has good support around the 11300 levels and till that holds, the markets continue to remain in bullish terrain,” said Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.