Informist, Wednesday, Nov 3, 2021

By Vivek Kumar and Abhishek Saini

MUMBAI -Benchmark indices ended lower for the second consecutive session today amid caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting outcome later today and the long weekend.  

The US central bank is likely to announce the beginning of tapering pandemic stimulus today. Further, investors will closely watch the Fed's view on the timeline for interest rate hikes, which will drive the global market trend going ahead.

Barring "muhurat" trading for an hour on Thursday, the market will be closed for the rest of the week on the occasion of Diwali.

The Nifty 50 closed 0.3% at 17829.20 points, and the Sensex closed 0.4% lower at 59771.92 points, respectively. Intraday, the indices had risen 0.6% each.

The sharp outperformance of the benchmark indices to global peers and stretched valuations have made some market participants cautious, and they do not expect any extraordinary gains going ahead.

Given the sharp gains seen in the benchmark indices lately, one should expect only modest returns for the upcoming year, said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment officer at Geojit Financial Services. 

However, there are always outperformers in the market, he said. Banks and financial services companies, especially private sector banks and top public sector banks, are likely to be the best performers for over a year now given that credit growth is picking up and the outlook is positive.

Shares of State Bank of India closed over 1% higher after the lender reported robust earnings for Jul-Sep. However, the stock had risen 4% during the day and pared most of these gains amid profit booking.

Further, with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank falling 1-3%, the Nifty Bank index ended 1.3% lower.

The weakness in banks outweighed the gains in infrastructure and related materials companies.

The shares of Larsen & Toubro were the top gainers as they rose over 4%. The stock has surged 8% over the past three sessions owing to strong outlook for the company backed by robust Jul-Sep earnings.

Construction materials – cement and metal – companies were also among the list of top gainers today.

Metals and real estate companies are likely to remain resilient going ahead as well with a multi-year growth story unfolding, said Vijayakumar.

The Nifty Realty index is up 10% in four sessions as a strong recovery in the sector has helped the companies report robust earnings for Jul-Sep.

Among other sectors, the Nifty IT index ended flat today as gains in HCL Technologies and Infosys were offset by profit booking in other index constituents like Mindtree and Mphasis. 

Strong earnings drove gains in eClerx Services and Trent Ltd, while PNB Housing and Laxmi Organic Industries fell as their earnings failed to meet Street expectations. 

The fall in headline indices also hit the broader markets, with small-cap and mid-cap indices on the National Stock Exchange ending 0-1% lower. 

* Among Nifty 50 stocks, 23 rose and 27 fell 

* Among Sensex stocks, 13 rose and 17 fell

* On the NSE, 886 stocks rose, 1080 fell and 79 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 1596 stocks rose, 1643 fell and 162 were unchanged

* Nifty Auto: Down 1%; Nifty Bank: Down 1.3%; Nifty Metal: Up 0.9%

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BSE                                             National Stock Exchange
Sensex: 59771.92, down 257.14 pts (0.4%)        Nifty 50: 17829.20, down 59.75 pts (0.3%) 
———————————————————————————–

S&P BSE Sensitive Index                         Nifty 50
Lifetime High:62245.43 (Oct 19)                 : Lifetime High: 18604.45 (Oct 19)
Record Close High: 61765.59 (Oct 18)            : Record Close High: 18477.05 (Oct 18)
2021 1st day close: 47868.98 (Jan 1)            : 2021 1st day close: 14018.5 (Jan 1)
2021 Closing High: 61765.59 (Oct 18)            : 2021 Closing High: 18477.05 (Oct 18) 
2021 Closing Low: 46285.77 (Jan 29)             : 2021 Closing Low: 13634.60 (Jan 29)
2021 High (intraday): 62245.43 (Oct 19)         : 2021 High (intraday): 18604.45 (Oct 19)
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 Pranav S. Joshi

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