More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025

By Akshita Kumar and Anshul Choudhary

MUMBAI – While daily volatility persists in the market, with bulls trying to push the Nifty 50 above 23000 points and bears attempting to pull it down to 22800 points, the 50-stock index has hardly moved in the past five sessions. On Thursday, the Nifty 50 closed just above 22900 points for the fifth session, despite falling to 22700-22800 levels during each of these five sessions.

The tussle can be attributed to different views in the market about corporate earnings, with some analysts saying these will bounce back in the coming quarters, while others are gearing up for a slightly longer slowdown. On Thursday, concerns about lower-than-expected earnings in the December quarter and persistent selling by foreign portfolio investors continued to negatively affect market sentiment.

The benchmark indices closed lower Thursday for the third straight session amid a fall in index heavyweights such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and ITC. The Nifty 50 closed at 22913.15 points, down 19.75 points or 0.1%, and the BSE Sensex ended at 75735.96 points, down 203.22 points or 0.3%.

The threat of reciprocal tariffs from the US, which are likely to be announced in April, has added to the uncertainty, analysts said. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump reiterated his administration's stance that he will impose reciprocal tariffs on India. A report by Goldman Sachs said India could see an impact of 10-60 basis points on its GDP growth if the US imposes reciprocal tariffs on all countries, including India.

The broader market indices outperformed the benchmarks, with the mid-cap indices rising 1.1-1.3% on the National Stock Exchange, and the small-cap indices rising 1.1-1.6%. Mid- and small-caps have found a bottom at lower levels, showing strong technical support, Riyank Arora, technical analyst at Mehta Equities, said.

Shares of HDFC Bank ended down 2.3%, giving up all the gains accumulated in the previous three sessions. Large banks have been facing issues on the liquidity front as they have struggled to shore up deposits, an analyst tracking the sector said. These issues may be resolved going forward, especially after recent major moves by the Reserve Bank of India to boost liquidity in the banking system, he said.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki India and Tech Mahindra ended down 1.9% and 1.7%, respectively. On the other hand, Shriram Finance and NTPC ended up 4% and 3.3%, respectively, and emerged as the top Nifty 50 perfomers. The index got a boost from the sharp turnaround in shares of Mahindra & Mahindra, which rose nearly 6% from their three-month low of INR 2,690.05--which the stock hit at the open. The stock ended 3% higher from Wednesday's close. However, these big gains were not enough to offset the negative impact of a fall in heavyweights.

Shares of NHPC closed nearly 7% higher to be among the top Nifty 200 gainers. Brokerage CLSA upgraded its rating on the stock to 'high-conviction outperform' from 'outperform', though it cut its target price to INR 117 from INR 120. The brokerage belives the share price of NHPC may double in the next four years due to the company's strong fundamentals and upcoming projects. Shares of FSN E-Commerce closed 3% lower, extending its losses for the third session.

Shares of Godrej Industries rose nearly 20% to touch an over-one-month high of INR 1,033.60, before coming slightly off the high to close 17% up. On the downside, shares of Godfrey Phillips India and JBM Auto fell 9% and 6%, respectively, and were the worst hit on the Nifty 500 index.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Metal, Nifty Energy, and Nifty PSU Bank ended 1.7-2% higher. Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Bank, and Nifty Private Bank fell 0.5-0.8%.

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 27 rose and 23 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 15 rose and 15 fell

* On the NSE, 1,998 stocks rose, 830 fell, and 76 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 2,669 stocks rose, 1,273 fell, and 112 were unchanged

* Nifty Financial Services: down 0.8%; Nifty Bank: down 0.5%; Nifty Metal: up 2%

BSE                                               NSE

Sensex: 75735.96, down 203.22 points or 0.3%      Nifty 50: 22913.15, down 19.75 points or 0.1%

End

Edited by Tanima Banerjee and Rajeev Pai

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 feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.