MUMBAI: Equities ended choppy session on a subdued note on Tuesday due to lack of support from the global indices. Profit booking was seen in metals, PSU and oil & gas stocks while IT stocks resisted the down move.
After opening lower, indices consolidated in a narrow range due to absence of buyers at higher levels. “Traders have turned cautious after the sharp rally. There is likely to be a correction and indices may consolidate before the next upmove,” said a dealer from a local brokerage.
Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 17,052.54, down 50.06 points or 0.29 per cent. It touched a low of 17031.21 and high of 17130.83 in today’s trade.
National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended at 5101.50, down 22.5 points or 0.44 per cent. The index touched a low of 5094.35 and high of 5131.80.
“Nifty in today’s session faced resistance around 5120 and faced selling pressure which drifted Index downward on intraday basis and closed the day around 5100 levels. We expect that the index would witness profit booking in short term and this could target 5020 on the downside.
The hourly and daily momentums oscillators are now moving towards stretched levels signaling upside is limited in near term. We would recommend building short positions with first target at 5020 and then at 4976. At current levels the risk reward ratio for going long is not favorable,” said Ashish Shroff, technical analyst, Ambit Capital.
BSE Midcap Index was down 0.72 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 0.71 per cent lower.
Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index was down 1.56 per cent, BSE PSU Index fell 1.43 per cent and BSE Oil&gas Index slipped 1.25 per cent. BSE IT Index was up 0.85 per cent.
“Bank Nifty and oil &gas sector look weak on the charts. In the short term we are advising to sell oil and banking stocks,” Shroff added.
Biggest Sensex gainers were HDFC (2.13%), HDFC Bank (1.75%), Maruti Suzuki (1.52%), Sun Pharmaceuticals (1.12%) and Tata Consultancy Services (1.12%).
Losers comprised Jaiprakash Associates (-3.44%), Tata Motors (-3.24%), Hindalco Industries (-2.56%), Hero Honda (-2.03%) and DLF (-1.7%).
German carmaker Daimler is selling its 5.34% stake in Tata Motors to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore ($429 million). Daimler was offering 2.56 crore shares in India’s largest vehicle maker, between Rs 737.40 and Rs 761.30 each, a discount of 4 to 7 per cent below the stock’s closing price on Monday of Rs 796.75.
Market breadth remained negative on the BSE with 1780 declines and 1043 advances.
Meanwhile, the European markets were in the red following weakness in commodities and the US markets also suggested a lower opening. At 5 pm IST, Dow Jones futures was down 0.29 per cent, S&P 500 slipped 0.38 per cent and Nasdaq 100 declined 0.29 per cent.
