The market has settled into a low-range trading
The market, which was in the negative for most part of the trading session, picked up momentum in post-noon trade and settled near the day’s high on select buying. Yesterday we had mentioned that the indices are presently directionless and a big move will help it find direction. We continue to maintain the stance. Although the Nifty covered more than yesterday’s loss, the index made a fresh low of the current downfall which began on 24th August. The benchmark moved in a narrow range today. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 51.66 crore shares and the advance decline ratio was 945:696.
The market resumed trade on a soft note as tracking the weak Asian markets in morning trade. The Nifty and the Sensex opened five points down at 5,249 and 17,379, respectively. Lack of any fresh domestic triggers kept the market sideways in the negative till the noon session.
Selling in select sectors saw the market fall to its intraday low at around 12.50pm. At this point the Nifty went down to 5,233 and the Sensex dipped to 17,308. However, the benchmarks recovered from the lows as buying in blue chips boosted sentiments.
The indices were firm in late trade as buying activity expanded, despite subdued trading in the European markets following Moody’s downgrade of the Eurozone rating outlook to ‘negative’.
The benchmarks hit the day’s high at the fag end of the session with the Nifty rising to 5,278 and the Sensex climbing to 17,453. The market closed near the high-point of the day. The Nifty gained 20 points to 5,274 and the Sensex added 56 points to settle at 17,441.
Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index closed 0.53% higher and the BSE Small-cap index gained 0.39%.
The top sectoral gainers were BSE Realty (up 1.59%); BSE Oil & Gas (up 1.19%); BSE Power (up 0.92%); BSE Power (up 0.92%); BSE Consumer Durables (up 0.89%) and BSE Metal (up 0.83%). The two losers were BSE IT (down 0.05%) and BSE Healthcare (down 0.04%).
Of the 30 shares in the Sensex list, 18 settled in the positive. The top gainers were GAIL India (up 2.60%); Jindal Steel (up 2.44%); Reliance Industries (up 1.87%); Tata Motors (up 1.71%) and Tata Steel (up 1.41%). The losers were led by HDFC (down 1.54%); Cipla (down 1.47%); Tata Power (down 1.28%); Bajaj Auto (down 0.98%) and Sun Pharma (down 0.61%).
The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Indiabulls Real Estate (up 7.61%) and Torrent Power (up 6.89%).
The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—AstraZeneca Pharma India (down 3.35%) and Castrol India (down 3.20%).
The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Nath Seeds (up 19.92%) and Shree Rama Multi Tech (up 19.87%).
The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Riba Textiles (down 14.29%) and Sharon Bio-Medicine (down 13.82%).
Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 32 settled in the positive. The top gainers on the Nifty were GAIL India (up 2.69%); Jindal Steel (up 2.47%); Jaiprakash Associates (up 2.41%); Reliance Industries (up 2.33%) and Tata Motors (up 1.95%). The key losers were IDFC (down 1.86%); HDFC (down 1.83%); Cipla (down 1.44%); Tata Power (down 0.97%) and Sun Pharma (down 0.79%).
Markets across Asia closed mostly lower on concerns about economic growth—both within the region and across the globe—as weak indicators recently showed. Downgrade of the Eurozone rating outlook by Moody’s also weighed on investors.
The Shanghai Composite declined 0.75%; the Hang Seng dropped 0.66%; the Jakarta Composite fell 0.31%; the Nikkei 225 lost 0.10%; the Straits Times slipped 0.19% and the Seoul Composite settled 0.29% down. On the other hand, the KLSE Composite and the Taiwan Weighted added 0.01% each.
At the time of writing, the key European indices were down between 0.29% and 0.76% and the US stock futures were mixed.
Back home, institutional investors continued to pull out funds from the equities segment on Monday, as well. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of funds totalling Rs54.79 crore and domestic institutional investors were net sellers involving Rs160.70 crore.
State-owned NTPC is awaiting nod from the Arunachal Pradesh government for its proposed Rs1 lakh crore hydro power project, a top company official said today. As per its policy, the state government is believed to have asked NTPC to make an upfront payment of about Rs400 crore for setting up the project. The stock gained 0.80% to close at Rs170.15 on the NSE.
Elecon Engineering Company, a manufacturer of material handling equipment and transmission products, has received letter of intent from Tecpro Systems for the supply of equipment worth Rs26 crore for a project in Andhra Pradesh. The order involves design, engineering, manufacture and supply of equipment for Apgenco-Rayalseema Project-914. Elecon closed at Rs42.95 on the NSE, up 1.92%.
Shriram City Union Finance on Tuesday said it is planning to raise up to Rs500 crore through a public issue of secured non-convertible debentures. The NCDs are proposed with a face value of Rs1,000 each and the public issue opens on 12th September. The funds raised through the issue would be used for the company’s various financing activities and to repay their existing loans. The stock rose 0.45% to close at Rs765.55 on the NSE.
