New Delhi:
Indian stock benchmarks closed in green on Thursday but were off their early highs. After a strong start to the day, domestic indices gave up most of their gains on late deals, swept up by banking, consumer goods and pharma stocks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 33 points, or 0.06 percent, to close at 55,702, while the broader NSE Nifty slid 5 points, or 0.03 percent, to close at 16,683. Sensex swung in a band of 953 points before moving marginally higher. However, both indices broke their three-day losing run.
Mid and small cap stocks ended mixed as the Nifty Midcap 100 index moved 0.10 percent higher and the small cap lost 0.75 percent.
Five of the 15 sector meters – compiled by the National Stock Exchange – closed in green. Sub-indexes Nifty IT, Nifty Metal and Nifty Auto outperformed the index, declining 2.07 percent, 0.62 percent and 0.42 percent, respectively. Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Pharma underperformed the index.
On a stock-specific front, Tech Mahindra was the best riser as the stock rose 4.22 percent to Rs 1,264. Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, HCL Tech and Tata Steel were also among the winners.
Overall market size was weak as 1,522 shares rose while 1,817 fell on BSE.
On the 30-share BSE index, TechM, Infy, HCL Tech, Wipro, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS and ITC were among the top winners.
By contrast, IndusInd Bank, Nestle India, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finserv, Titan and Asian Paints were in the red.
Technical view: Short-term fine sentiment remains negative. Resistance for Nifty50 is seen at 16,950, below which the bias remains negative. Medium-term trend support for the index is seen at 15,500. Select energy stocks trade with a positive bias, while cement stocks are expected to remain under pressure ‘ said Sahaj Agrawal, Head of Research – Derivatives at Kotak Securities.