Informist, Monday, Feb 12, 2024

MUMBAI – Benchmark indices started the week on a negative note, with investors booking profit across sectors. Losses in the indices were primarily on account of a sharp fall in banking and other financial services stocks. Meanwhile, information technology and pharmaceutical stocks were the outliers and rose today. 

The Nifty 50 opened higher due to largely positive cues from the US markets, but erased all gains within the initial 30 minutes of trade and fell more to hit an intraday low of 21574.75 points. Eventually, the 50-stock index ended 166.45 points, or 0.8%, lower at a two-week low of 21616.05 points. As many as 35 of the Nifty 50 constituents ended lower. 

Meanwhile, the Sensex fell 523 points, or 0.7%, to close at 71072.49 points. The India VIX, also known as the fear gauge, rose 4% to close at a two-week high of 16.06 points. "Today, the benchmark indices witnessed profit booking at higher levels," Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities said in a note. "On intraday charts index is still holding lower top formation and on daily charts it has formed a bearish candle which indicating further weakness from the current levels," he added.

Most sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange ended in the red, in sync with the Nifty 50. The Nifty Media, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty Realty were among the worst-hit sectoral indices today. Meanwhile, even with the underlying negative sentiment, the Nifty Healthcare and Nifty Pharma indices hit fresh lifetime highs today. 

The Nifty Bank index fell 752.30 points, or 1.7%, to close at 44882.25 points, on the back of losses in shares of Bandhan Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, and IndusInd Bank. The Nifty Private Bank and Nifty PSU Bank indices fell 1.7% and 4.4%, respectively. "The banking index has retested its long term moving average the 200 DEMA (double exponential moving average) and others are also witnessing profit taking now," said Ajit Mishra, senior vice-president of technical research at Religare Broking.

Meanwhile, healthcare and information technology stocks gained amid a sell-off in the market today. Shares of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, and Divi's Laboratories were the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index. Information technology majors such as Wipro, HCLTech, and LTIMindtree, among others, helped the Nifty IT gain 0.8% today, making it the top sectoral gainer.

According to Amish Shah, senior analyst at Taurus Corporate Advisory Services, IT stocks are recovering amid optimism of a revival in demand as rate hikes in the US are over.

Further, shares of Coal India ended over 5% lower ahead of its earnings for the December quarter, due later today. The company is expected to report one of its best performances in terms of sales volume and production, but it is not expected to reflect upon the company's financial performance. Shares of Hero MotoCorp also fell nearly 5% as investors booked profits.

Oil stocks such as Bharat Petroleum Corp and Oil and Natural Gas Corp closed nearly 4% lower. Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corp fell today after the company reported a fall in both net profit and revenue from operations for Oct-Dec compared with the year-ago period. Further, 14 out of 15 constituents of Nifty Oil & Gas ended in the red with the index closing 2.6% lower. 

Meanwhile, the Nifty midcap and smallcap indices fell 2-4% today. "The broad market indices saw a heavier fall of up to 4% due to correction on frothy valuations in the mid and small-cap universe," said Avdhut Bagkar, technical and derivatives analyst at StoxBox.

Shares of Bharat Forge fell 14% on profit booking as the management said it expects the momentum to moderate in both domestic and export markets across industries going forward in Jan-Mar and 2024-25 (Apr-Mar). Shares of SJVN were the worst hit with 20% losses in the Nifty 500 index, while Jubilant Ingrevia was the best performer with 12% gains.

On Tuesday, analysts expect profit booking to continue. The Nifty 50 is seen finding support at 21500 points and face resistance at 21800 points. "It would be difficult for Nifty to hold 21600 in the prevailing scenario. We thus recommend maintaining shorts as well and using any pause or rebound to reduce longs," said Mishra.

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 15 rose and 35 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 22 rose and 8 fell

* On the BSE, 1,004 stocks rose, 2,986 fell, and 89 were unchanged

* Nifty Media: down 4.46%; Nifty PSU Bank: down 4.43%; Nifty IT: up 0.79%

BSE                                                  NSE
Sensex: 71072.49, down 523.00 pts, or 0.73%          Nifty 50: 21616.05, down 166.45 pts, or 0.76%

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 Aditya Sakorkar

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