If the Nifty breaches the day’s low again we may see it finding support at 5,295
The market settled lower on weak global cues and selling in capital goods and banking stocks. Yesterday we had mentioned that the Nifty has to stay above the day’s low of 5,394 for the uptrend to continue. The index opened almost at this level and struggled to cross but closed below this level. If the index breaches the day’s low again we may see it finding support at 5,295. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 59.36 crore shares. This means that the market has declined on higher volumes.
The Indian benchmarks witnessed a gap down opening on unsupportive global cues. US stocks settled lower overnight as hopes of new initiatives from the Federal Reserve receded and flash manufacturing data from China and Europe for August showed a decline. The economic slowdown, as reflected in the lower-than-expected manufacturing data, resulted in the Asian markets trading lower this morning.
Back home, the Nifty opened 22 points down at 5,393 and the Sensex started off at 17,790, down 60 points from its previous close. The indices hit their highs in initial trade with the Nifty rising to 5,400 and the Sensex going up to 17,823. However, banking, metal, auto and capital goods stocks kept the indices down in subsequent trade.
The market witnessed a high degree of choppiness from the opening bell itself, which added to the pressure on the benchmarks. Offloading of blue chips by institutional investors kept the indices in the negative.
The benchmarks fell to their lows in noon trade as the negative opening of the key European indices added to the woes in the local market. At the lows, the Nifty went back to 5,371 and the Sensex fell to 17,725.
The market recovered from the lows in the post-noon session on select buying, but the gains lacked strength, thus keeping the indices in red. The Nifty closed 29 points (0.53%) down at 5,387 and the Sensex settled at 17,873, down 67 points (0.38%).
The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was in favour of the losers at 494:924.
Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index declined 0.58% and the BSE Small-cap index dropped 0.78%.
The gainers in the sectoral space were BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (up 0.34%); BSE Healthcare (up 0.25%) and BSE Auto (up 0.05%). The top losers were BSE Realty (down 1.08%); BSE Power (down 0.80%); BSE Capital Goods (down 0.79%) and BSE Metal (down 0.57%).
The Sensex was led by Coal India (up 2.26%); ONGC (up 1.95%); Cipla, Maruti Suzuki (up 0.88% each) and Sterlite Industries (up 0.63%). The major losers on the index were Tata Steel (down 2.73%); Jindal Steel (down 2.33%); Hindalco Industries (down 1.99%); ICICI Bank (down 1.79%) and Reliance Industries (down 1.55%).
The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Jain Irrigation (up 5.16%) and Opto Circuits (up 5.03%).
The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—IFCI (down 16.31%) and Bajaj Finserv (down 6.79%).
The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Shelter Infraprojects (up 20%) and Punjab Alkalis (up 19.94%).
The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Spectacle Infotek (down 14.86%) and Jai Mata Glass (down 14.29%).
The top Nifty gainers were ONGC (up 2.13%); Coal India (up 2.09%); BPCL (up 1.20%); Maruti Suzuki (up 1%) and Sesa Goa (up 0.95%). The top laggards were Reliance Infrastructure (down 3.01%); DLF (down 2.92%); Jaiprakash Associates (down 2.91%); Jindal Steel (down 2.78%) and Tata Steel (down 2.77%).
Markets across Asia closed down as hopes for new initiatives from the Federal Reserve to boost growth diminished and manufacturing data from China and Europe came in lower-than-expected. The tardy progress on resolving the European debt crisis also weighed on investors.
The Shanghai Composite dropped 0.99%; the Hang Seng tanked 1.25%; the Jakarta Composite declined 0.41%; the KLSE Composite fell 0.21%; the Nikkei 225 contracted 1.17%; the Straits Times slipped 0.19%; the Seoul Composite settled 1.17% down and the Taiwan Weighted lost 0.37%.
At the time of writing, the key European indices were down between 0.23% and 0.54% and the US stock futures were marginally down.
Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of stocks totalling Rs311.78 crore on Thursday while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of shares amounting to Rs161.10 crore.
Reliance Power today said it has signed an agreement with China Datang Corporation for a strategic partnership to develop and operate power and energy projects both here as well as overseas, making it the first partnership between the two countries in the power sector. Reliance Power jumped 2.55% to close at Rs86.30 on the NSE.
BASF India Rs1,000-crore greenfield chemicals project at Dahej in Gujarat will be entirely funded by debt from its group company, BASF Co-ordination Centre NV. The debt will come in the form of external commercial borrowings, according to rating agency Crisil. BASF declined 2.81% to settle at Rs639.90 on the NSE.
Jyoti Structures has received domestic and export orders worth Rs1,491 crore. The orders include 400 Kv transmission lines on turnkey basis in India and Kenya, and also project related to rural electrification. The stock surged 5.79% to Rs40.20 on the NSE.
