Under the shadow of declines in the Asian market and subdued European markets, for most of the day, Indian shares were outperforming their global peers. However, profit-booking in the last hour of trade erased all gains. Profit booking was amplified in the index heavyweights Reliance, TCS and Tata Steel.
At the close, Sensex fell 66.23 points to 52,386 and Nifty lost 15.40 points to end the day at 15,763. During the day the Sensex was up by 247 and Nifty was up by 84 points. The BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.52%. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.69%. Among the sectoral indices, pharma, media and auto clocked gains while Metals, banking and financial services ended down.
Shares of Reliance Industries has remained under pressure for the week. It has lost 3.33% during the week. After six straight gains, Tata Steel was under pressure on profit-booking, TCS, the second most valued company also failed to get any buying support. For almost seven sessions, shares of the software major gain one day and lose on the next.
The star of the trading session was Sun Pharma. After declaring better than expected results, shares of India’s largest drugmaker gained 10.6% to close at Rs774, the highest level in four years.
The second week of losses
Benchmark indices declined for the second straight week. The Sensex and Nifty closed down by 0.6% while Nifty Bank falls 3% in the last two weeks, the biggest 2-week fall in last quarter. However, the midcap index managed to end with one per cent of gains. During the week, the biggest decline was recorded in the shares of Dr Reddy’s Labs as that closed with losses of 13.11% followed by 6.16% in Axis Bank, 4.33% in Maruti Suzuki and 4.06% in Asian Paints.
On technical charts, Nifty moved in the range of 15,500 to 15820 – both major support and resistance levels. “Market participants are looking at the major trigger that can make or break the trend. For the market to sustain the current rally, it needs to cross 15900. However, on declines 15500 to 15600 would invite buying to keep the bears at bay,” a note from Kotak Securities said.
