Informist, Friday, Feb 23, 2024
By Padmini Dhruvaraj
MUMBAI – The benchmark indices ended a volatile session marginally down on selling for profit in some heavyweight shares of information technology and banking companies. Gains in Reliance Industries and some pharmaceutical companies capped the losses.
The Nifty 50 index opened higher tracking gains in global equity markets and rose to a new lifetime high of 22297.50 points, the fifth consecutive session it hit a new high. However, it fell sharply thereafter and oscillated between gains and losses until the end of the session, in sync with the Nifty Bank index.
Eventually, the 50-stock index closed 4.75 points lower at 22212.70 points, with 26 of its constituents in the red. The BSE Sensex ended 15.44 points down at 73142.80 points.
"The benchmark index claimed a new historic peak on Friday but struggled to hold ground near the all-time high," Avdhut Bagkar, technical and derivatives analyst at StoxBox, said in a note. "The index perceived selling pressure near 22300; struggling to surpass this sell-off, the index slid towards 22200 level in the last hour," he added.
Sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange ended mixed. The Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Oil & Gas, and Nifty Metal indices were the worst-hit sectoral indices and fell on profit-taking, analysts said. The Nifty PSU Bank snapped a two-day gaining streak and fell 1.1% on the back of losses in shares of Punjab & Sind Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Baroda, and UCO Bank.
The Nifty Oil & Gas index fell 0.4%, dragged down by losses in shares of Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Peteroleum Corp, and GAIL India. The fall in the oil-marketing company stocks comes after brokerage CLSA reportedly gave bearish views on the companies. The firm retained its 'sell' rating on the three oil-refining company stocks and said a cut in retail prices of petrol and diesel is unlikely. It also said a 5-7% rally in crude oil prices may again raise worries about marketing margins. CLSA's bearish views follow recent optimistic views from broking firms Morgan Stanley and Jefferies and from Fitch Ratings on the oil marketing space.
With respect to upstream stocks, some analysts are bullish on Reliance Industries and Oil India. The resistance for Reliance Industries is expected at 3,000 rupees and support at 2,980 rupees. Today, shares of the company hit a fresh lifetime high of 2,995.10 rupees and closed 0.8% higher.
On the other hand, the Nifty Media, Nifty Realty, and Nifty Consumer Durables indices rose. The Nifty Infrastructure, Nifty Healthcare, Nifty Pharma, and Nifty Automobile indices hit their respective lifetime highs.
The Nifty Pharma index rose 0.4% today, extending its upward move for the second day, led by gains in shares of Zydus Lifesciences, Natco Pharma, Granules India, and Lupin. Shares of pharmaceutical companies are expected to extend their gaining streak and hit fresh lifetime highs next week, analysts said. However, following the recent rise in the Nifty Pharma index, investors might also look to take out some profits at higher levels, they said.
Vipin Kumar, senior technical and derivative analyst at Globe Capital Market, said he expects range-bound movement in the Nifty Pharma index, as there might be some profit-taking, so the view is "cautiously bullish".
The Nifty Bank index, which was largely responsible for the Nifty 50's volatility today, fell for the third straight session. "The short-term trading chart set-up for Bank Nifty is still positive," Tejas Shah, technical research analyst at JM Financial & BlinkX, said in a note. "On the downside, the support zone lies at 46600-46700, while the resistance is seen at 47300-47400."
The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices with all the small- and mid-cap indices on the NSE closing 0.2-0.7% higher. Shares of Bharat Electronics hit an all-time high of 207 rupees amid a rise seen across most defence stocks. Additionally, shares of Vodafone Idea rose to a one-month high after the company announced plans to mull raising funds.
Going forward, analysts expect the Nifty 50 to gain. The index is expected to find support at 22000 points and face resistance at 22500 points next week. "On the daily and weekly charts, the index has formed higher high and higher low series formation, which supports further uptrend from the current levels," Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities, said. "We are of the view that as long as the index is trading above 22000 the bullish formation is likely to continue."
* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 24 rose and 26 fell
* Of the Sensex stocks, 13 rose and 17 fell
* On the BSE, 2,045 stocks rose, 1,793 fell, and 98 were unchanged
* Nifty PSU Bank: down 1.15%; Nifty Oil & Gas: down 0.43%; Nifty Media: up 1.36%
BSE NSE
Sensex: 73142.80, down 15.44 pts, or 0.02% Nifty 50: 22212.70, down 4.75 pts, or 0.02%
S&P BSE Sensitive Index Nifty 50
Lifetime High: 73427.59 (Jan 16, 2024) : Lifetime High: 22297.50 (Feb 23, 2024)
Record Close High: 73128.77 (Jan 16, 2024) : Record Close High: 22217.45 (Feb 22, 2024)
2024 1st day close: 72271.94 (Jan 1) : 2024 1st day close: 21741.90 (Jan 1)
2024 Closing High: 73128.77 (Jan 16) : 2024 Closing High: 22217.45 (Feb 22)
2024 Closing Low: 70370.55 (Jan 23) : 2024 Closing Low: 21238.80 (Jan 23)
2024 High (intraday): 73427.59 (Jan 16) : 2024 High (intraday): 22297.50 (Feb 23)
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 Rajeev Pai
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