Informist, Wednesday, Dec 20, 2023

By Anjana Therese Antony

MUMBAI – Investors rushed to book profits across sectors today after the stock market recorded new highs in early trade, leading to the benchmark indices falling over 1% by the end of the session. The losses were led by shares of information technology and financial services companies. All sectoral indices plunged, with Nifty Energy falling the most, down 884.55 points at 32151.60 points.

In early trade, the Nifty 50 hit a fresh lifetime high of 21593 points, and the BSE Sensex hit a record high of 71913.07 points. The 50-share index closed 302.95 points, or 1.4%, lower at 21150.15 points. The Sensex ended 930.88 points, or 1.3%, lower at 70506.31 points. Immediate support for the Nifty 50 is now pegged at 21000-20900 points and resistance is seen at 21250-21300 points.

The broader market, which also hit all-time highs during the day, also plunged. "The market is usually soft in the second half of December as investors book profits and FIIs take a holiday at this time of the year," Geetanjali Kedia, initial public offering expert and investment adviser at SPTulsian.com, said.

"As long as the index is trading below 21225 (Nifty 50) and 70800 (Sensex), the weak sentiment is likely to continue," said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities.

IT stocks, which led the gains in early trade, slipped into losses on selling for profit, at least five analysts said. The Nifty IT index closed 604 points lower at 34741 points, with all its 10 constituents in the red. The fall in IT stocks contributed nearly 0.3% to the fall in the Nifty 50.

US-based tech giant Accenture reported a slowdown in managed services and a broad-based slowdown across verticals. In a research report, brokerage firm Jefferies said this does not bode well for Indian IT companies. "Nifty IT has rallied 9% and has outperformed Nifty by 2 ppts (percentage points) in December, but Accenture's results do not indicate a recovery is in sight," it said in the report.

Financial services stocks also fell. Indices related to the sector, such as the Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank, and Nifty Financial Services, all closed around 1% lower. The Nifty PSU Bank ended 4% lower and was among the worst hit sectoral indices. Losses in these stocks together pulled the Nifty 50 down over 0.4%.

Most oil and gas stocks, too, fell after leading gains in early trade. Of the 15 constituents of Nifty Oil & Gas, 13 closed lower. Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Oil India were the only gainers. These stocks have been rising after the government cut the windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil.

ICICI Securities believes the pessimism over crude oil prices is overdone and expects prices to rise to $85-90 per barrel over the medium term. The brokerage remains bullish on the profitability of upstream as well as downstream oil and gas companies in India.

In terms of specific stocks, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Adani Enterprises closed over 5% lower each, the major laggards on the Nifty 50. A research analyst who tracks Adani Ports said the stock fell on selling for profit. The analyst said the stock may find support at 915 rupees and face resistance at 1,150 rupees.

Varun Beverages rose 17.8% to a lifetime high of 1,380 rupees after the company said it would acquire South African company The Beverage Co (Proprietary) for 13.2 bln rupees. Brokerages Jefferies and Motilal Oswal Financial Services said they were positive about the acquisition, describing it as "accretive" for the company's margin and earnings per share.

Piramal Enterprises and Indiabulls Housing Finance fell after the Reserve Bank of India directed banks and non-banking finance companies not to invest in alternative investment funds that invest directly or indirectly in one of the companies they have already lent to, Avdhut Bagkar, technical and derivatives analyst at StoxBox, said in a note.

Among the new listings, shares of DOMS Industries debuted at 1,400 rupees on the National Stock Exchange, a premium of 77% to its issue price of 790 rupees. However, the stock closed lower at 1,326.05 rupees.

India Shelter Finance Corp listed at a 26% premium of 620 rupees but closed lower at 544.70 rupees.

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 4 rose and 46 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 1 rose and 29 fell

* On the BSE, 612 stocks rose, 3,234 fell, and 75 were unchanged

* Nifty Energy: Down 2.68%; Nifty IT: Down 1.71%; Nifty Bank: Down 0.89%

BSE                                                NSE
Sensex: 70506.31, down 930.88 pts, or 1.30%        Nifty 50: 21150.15, down 302.95 pts, or 1.41%

S&P BSE Sensitive Index                            Nifty 50
Lifetime High: 71913.07 (Dec 20, 2023)          :  Lifetime High: 21593 (Dec 20, 2023)
Record Close High: 71483.75 (Dec 15, 2023)      :  Record Close High: 21456.65 (Dec 15, 2023)

2023 1st day close: 61167.79 (Jan 2)            :  2023 1st day close: 18197.45 (Jan 2)
2023 Closing High: 71483.75 (Dec 15)            :  2023 Closing High: 21456.65 (Dec 15)

2023 Closing Low: 59288.35 (Feb 27)             :  2023 Closing Low: 17311.80 (Oct 17)

2023 High (intraday): 71913.07 (Dec 20)         :  2023 High (intraday): 21593 (Dec 20)

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

With inputs from Team Informist

Edited by Rajeev Pai

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