Indian share markets settled lower after revolving between gains and losses throughout the session on Thursday amid sell-off in financial and pharma stocks. After much ups and downs, Sensex ended at 38,310, down 59 points or 0.15 percent, while the broader Nifty 50 index settled at 11,300.
Index heavyweights such as Bharti Airtel, ITC, HDFC Bank, Housing Development Finance Corporation, Reliance Industries (RIL) were among the top stocks which added to the indices’ loss. On the contrary, Larsen & Toubro was the top Sensex gainer, after the company secured orders worth Rs 1,000-2,500 crore. It was followed by Titan Company which gained 3.73 percent to end at Rs 1,097.6 apiece. HCL Tech, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra were among other gainers.
Indian share market benchmark indices traded range-bound. Because it was a weekly expiry and the indices were range-bound, the fact remains that with the rise in COVID cases on one hand and hopes of vaccines and unlocking on the other, traders at large are waiting on the sidelines before taking any bet told Financial Express Online. The broader range for Nifty as of now is 10800-11500. There is action outside the Nifty though and quality companies with strong fundamentals, where the numbers have been well followed by good management commentary are witnessing strong accumulation. Pharma, Steel, and FMCG companies are witnessing trader interest, Rajesh Agarwal, Head of Research, AUM Capital Market told.
Most of the large-cap and midcap stock have declared their quarterly results which resulted in a reaction in stock prices. In the last two weeks, sectorial rotation and stocks have shown good runup in July are showing some profit-taking at the higher side. The sectors like IT and Pharma are on the back seat and shown some profit-taking while Metal, Automobile, and Capital Goods have shown some buying action. Looking at the current setup, Palviya expects range-bound moves for a few more trading sessions. Once Nifty manages to cross above 11400 levels then it may scale up towards 11500-11550 while on the lower side 11200-11150 are likely to act as a good support level in any minor corrective action.
Markets have been floating in a narrow range for the last four sessions and indications are in the favour of further surge. However, a lot would depend upon the outcome of the Supreme Court hearing on the AGR case on Friday. Thus it is advised to continue with hedged trades, with the bias on the positive side.
India VIX, the volatility index, opened at 20.85 on Thursday and went down till 19.5 marks. However, the high of the volatility index was at 21.19 before closing at 20.36.
