Informist, Thursday, Feb 8, 2024
By Padmini Dhruvaraj
MUMBAI – Indian benchmark equity indices snapped a two-day gaining streak and ended lower due to losses in the shares of financial services and fast-moving consumer goods companies. However, gains in Reliance Industries and some information technology stocks limited the losses.
The Nifty 50 index opened higher today and crossed the 22000 mark for a brief period, but fell sharply after the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting and remained in the red for the rest of the session. Eventually, the benchmark index ended 212.55 points or 1% lower at 21717.95 points. As many as 35 constituents of the Nifty 50 fell. The 30-stock Sensex fell 723.57 points or 1% to close at 71428.43 points.
“Markets traded under pressure on the weekly expiry day (of Nifty 50 options contracts) and lost nearly a percent,” Ajit Mishra, senior vice-president of technical research at Religare Broking said in a note. “After the flat start, Nifty 50 slipped sharply lower in the first half however it tried to trim losses in the middle but sustained decline in the private banking majors continues to weigh on the sentiment,” he added.
Most sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange traded in sync with the Nifty 50, with the banking and fast-moving consumer goods indices hit the most.
Stocks of private banks fell and those of public sector lenders came off highs as the RBI did not announce any measures to boost liquidity in the banking system. Analysts said that no relief on liquidity will likely mean that the banks will now have to increase their deposit rates, which will reduce the profitability of banks, as they are already struggling with low deposit growth and slowing credit offtake.
“Banks are low on deposits, and now they will have to hike deposit rates for more money,” said Narendra Solanki, head of fundamental Research – investment services at Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers. “This will hit their profits in the coming quarters.”
Governor Shaktikanta Das said today that liquidity is still in surplus if adjusted for government balances. After that, the Nifty Bank index fell sharply and ended 806.50 points or 1.8% lower to close at a two-week low of 45012 points. The Nifty Private Bank index was the worst hit with 2.6% losses.
“The market is reversing gains these stocks (banking stocks) saw sometime back on hopes of treasury gains,” said Dharmesh Kant, head of equity research at Cholamandalam Securities. Banking stocks had risen slightly post the Interim Budget when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government would borrow less in the next financial year, which had brought bond yields down.
The Nifty FMCG, Nifty Auto, and Nifty Realty were among the other worst performing sectoral indices. The Nifty FMCG index fell 2.1% due to losses in shares of Britannia Industries, ITC, Nestle, and Tata Consumer Products.
The fall in FMCG companies today was mostly because of lower-than-expected quarterly earnings, Christy Mathai, fund manager at Quantum Asset Management Co said. Currently, FMCG stocks are going through a significant correction due to their rich valuations. He expects this to continue till the stocks are reasonably valued.
Bucking the trend, the Nifty PSU index rose over 4.2% to hit a fresh lifetime of 7035.40 points today. Additionally, five other sectoral indices –Nifty Energy, Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Healthcare, Nifty Pharma, and Nifty Infrastructure–recorded new alltime highs today.
Meanwhile, broader markets outperformed benchmark indices today with the Nifty Midcap rising 0.1% and the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 150 declining 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively. The smallcap indices on NSE ended 0.4-0.6% lower.
The New India Assurance Co was the best performing stock in the broader market with 11.6% gains, while shares of One97 Communications were the worst hit, locked at the 10% lower circuit after comments by RBI officials on the recent restriction imposed on the company.
Analysts expect the Nifty 50 to fall more on Friday. The index is seen finding support at 21500 points and facing resistance at 21900 points. “Technically, on intraday charts, index has formed lower top formation and it formed bearish candle on daily charts, which supports further weakness from the current levels,” Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities said.
* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 15 rose and 35 fell
* Of the Sensex stocks, 22 rose and 8 fell
* On the BSE, 1,636 stocks rose, 2,204 fell, and 105 were unchanged
* Nifty Private Bank: down 2.59%; Nifty DMCG: down 2.06%; Nifty PSU Bank: up 2.00%
BSE NSE
Sensex: 71428.43, down 723.57 pts, or 1% Nifty 50: 21717.95, down 212.55 pts, or 0.97%
S&P BSE Sensitive Index Nifty 50
Lifetime High: 72720.96 (Jan 12, 2024) : Lifetime High: 22126.80 (Feb 2, 2024)
Record Close High: 72568.45 (Jan 12, 2024) : Record Close High: 22097.45 (Jan 15, 2024)
2024 1st day close: 72271.94 (Jan 1) : 2024 1st day close: 21741.90 (Jan 1)
2024 Closing High: 72568.45 (Jan 12) : 2024 Closing High: 21894.55 (Jan 12)
2024 Closing Low: 70370.55 (Jan 23) : 2024 Closing Low: 21238.80 (Jan 23)
2024 High (intraday): 72720.96 (Jan 12) : 2024 High (intraday): 21928.25 (Jan 12)
2024 Low (intraday): 70001.60 (Jan 24) : 2024 Low (intraday): 21137.20 (Jan 24)
2023 1st day close: 61167.79 (Jan 2) : 2023 1st day close: 18197.45 (Jan 2)
2023 Closing High: 72410.38 (Dec 28) : 2023 Closing High: 21778.70 (Dec 28)
2023 Closing Low: 59288.35 (Feb 27) : 2023 Closing Low: 17311.80 (Oct 17)
2023 High (intraday): 72484.34 (Dec 28) : 2023 High (intraday): 21801.45 (Dec 28)
2023 Low (intraday): 58699.20 (Jan 30) : 2023 Low (intraday): 17098.55 (Jan 17)
2022 1st day close: 59183.22 (Jan 3) : 2022 1st day close: 17625.70 (Jan 3)
2022 Closing High: 63284.19 (Dec 1) : 2022 Closing High: 18812.50 (Dec 1)
2022 Closing Low: 51360.42 (Jun 17) : 2022 Closing Low: 15293.50 (Jun 17)
2022 High (intraday): 63583.07 (Dec 1) : 2022 High (intraday): 18887.60 (Dec 1)
2022 Low (intraday): 50921.22 (Jun 17) : 2022 Low (intraday): 15183.40 (Jun 17)
2021 Closing High: 61305.95 (Oct 14) : 2021 Closing High: 18338.55 (Oct 14)
2021 Closing Low: 46285.77 (Jan 29) : 2021 Closing Low: 13634.60 (Jan 29)
2021 High (intraday): 61353.25 (Oct 14) : 2021 High (intraday): 18350.75 (Oct 14)
2021 Low (intraday): 46160.46 (Jan 29) : 2021 Low (intraday): 13596.75 (Jan 29)-
2020 Closing High: 47751.33 (Dec 31) : 2020 Closing High: 13981.95 (Dec 30)
2020 Closing Low: 25981.24 (Mar 23) : 2020 Closing Low: 7610.25 (Mar 23)
2020 High (intraday): 47896.97 (Dec 31) : 2020 High (intraday): 14024.85 (Dec 31)
2020 Low (intraday): 25638.90 (Mar 24) : 2020 Low (intraday): 7511.10 (Mar 24)
2019 High (intraday): 41809.96 (Dec 20) : 2019 High (intraday): 12293.90 (Dec 20)
2019 Low (intraday): 35287.16 (Feb 19) : 2019 Low (intraday): 10583.65 (Jan 29)
2018 High (intraday): 38938.91(Aug 28)) : 2018 High(intraday): 11760.20 (Aug 28)
2018 Low (intraday): 32483.8 (Mar 23) : 2018 Low (intraday): 9951.9 (Mar 23)
2017 High (intraday): 34005.37 (Dec 26) : 2017 High(intraday): 10515.10 (Dec 26)
End
Edited by Avishek Dutta
For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.
Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.
Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000
Send comments to [email protected]
© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.
Source: Cogencis
