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Informist, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025

By Akash Mandal

MUMBAI – The benchmark indices failed to sustain their intraday gains and ended slightly lower Thursday. The indices were up as much as 0.8% during the day but came off the highs in the final two hours of trade on profit-taking, analysts said. They attributed the rise earlier in the session to investors covering their short positions.

At the beginning of the session, sentiment was boosted by the better-than-expected inflation print for January, which showed that headline inflation moderated to 4.31% from 5.22% in December. However, caution over earnings and fears of more tariffs by the US pushed investors to take out some profits. They now await the joint press conference of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, hoping for some relief on potential tariffs, analysts said.

The Nifty 50 ended at 23031.40 points, down 13.85 points or 0.1%, and the BSE Sensex closed marginally lower at 76138.97 points, down 32.11 points. Though the indices were in the green for most of the session, they closed lower for the seventh straight session, declining around 3% during that period.

The surge in headline indices during the session was led by banks and financial sector stocks, while profit sales in the same stocks erased overall gains. Information technology stocks were the biggest drag on the indices as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services both ended around 1% lower.

The broader market indices ended mixed after giving up most of the gains made during the session. Midcap indices ended slightly higher while smallcap indices declined around 0.5%. The India VIX, which indicates volatlity in the market, had fallen over 18% intraday to a nearly four-month low of 12.19 but soon gained and ended 0.4% higher at 14.95.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Pharma, Nifty Healthcare, and Nifty Metal were the top gainers, while the indices related to IT, public-sector banks, and consumer goods fell. In early trade, all sectoral indices barring the Nifty IT had been in the green.

Most metal stocks came off the day's highs but closed in the green on expectations that the government could impose a temporary duty of 15-25% on steel imports from China. The duty could come within six months because of the challenge that domestic producers would face from cheaper imports, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing Steel Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. Steel Authority of India, Tata Steel, and JSW Steel ended 1-4% higher.

Pharmaceutical and healthcare stocks were the biggest gainers. The outlook for the sector is positive due to largely positive corporate earnings and launch of products in niche categories where competition is lower, Kushal Shah, senior manager of equity research at Prabhudas Lilladher, said. Ipca Laboratories, J.B. Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, and Mankind Pharma ended 3-5% higher. Lupin, which had risen nearly 6% during the session, ended 1.4% higher after its consolidated net profit of INR 8.55 billion beat analysts' estimates by a wide margin.

Suven Pharmaceuticals rose over 7% and was the top gainer on the Nifty 500 after its consolidated net profit for the December quarter rose over 77% on year. However, Natco Pharma plunged 20% and was the worst hit in the Nifty 500 after both its consolidated net profit and sales for Oct-Dec fell on year.

Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 1.5% after the Reserve Bank of India Wednesday lifted the restrictions imposed on the bank last year. The RBI had barred the bank from issuing new credit cards and onboarding new customers digitally. Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, and SBI Life Insurance Co. gained 1-3%. These stocks rose as RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra held a meeting with the top managements of some non-banking finance companies.

Among other stocks, Honasa Consumer rose almost 13% after its sales in the December quarter rose 6% on year, while net profit was only marginally higher. Finolex Cables surged 13% and was the top gainer in the Nifty 500 despite its net profit for the quarter falling on year. The company has guided for double-digit growth for the financial year 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) as it sees demand picking up, IDBI Capital Markets & Securities said in a report. Muthoot Finance closed 6% higher after it reported an all-time high quarterly net profit of INR 13.63 billion.

On the other hand, shares of Bharat Forge fell nearly 3% after its net profit for the December quarter fell short of estimates. After the result, Prabhudas Lilladher downgraded the stock to 'hold' from 'accumulate' and reduced the target price to INR 1,050 from INR 1,435. Aegis Logistics fell over 7% after its consolidated net profit and sales for the quarter fell on year. 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 25 rose and 25 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 16 rose and 14 fell

* On the NSE, 1,353 stocks rose, 1,472 fell, and 68 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 1,858 stocks rose, 2,089 fell, and 127 were unchanged

* Nifty IT: down 1%; Nifty PSU Bank: down 0.9%; Nifty Pharma: up 1.4%

BSE                                               NSE

76138.97 points, down 32.11 points                23031.40 points, down 13.85 points or 0.1%

End

US$1 = INR 86.89

Edited by Rajeev Pai

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