Informist, Friday, Oct 22, 2021

By Vivek Kumar

MUMBAI – Benchmark indices failed to sustain their opening gains and fell for the fourth consecutive session today as profit booking persisted across major sectors. However, banks and financial services companies continued to stand out in the weak market and limited the downside.

The Nifty 50 ended 0.4% lower at 18114.90 points, and the Sensex closed 0.2% lower at 60821.62 points. For the week, Nifty 50 has fallen 1.2%, while Sensex has shed 0.8%.

However, the weakness this week follows two consecutive weeks of more than 2% gains and a sharp rise over the last several months, which was on the hopes of robust corporate earnings.

With earnings being a mixed bag so far as several companies have faced margin headwinds due to high raw material prices, investors have turned cautious and resorted to selling. 

The earnings have fallen a bit short of market expectations, but the company fundamentals look strong from a long-term perspective given many of them are seeing strong topline growth, said Koushik Mohan, a fund manager at MOAT Financial Services. 

Information technology, consumer goods and metal companies continued to be the major laggards in the market. For the week, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Metal indices have fallen 6% and 5.5%, respectively, while the Nifty IT index has fallen 1%.

Today, Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consumer Products, ITC, Tata Motors and Hindalco Industries fell 2-5% and were the worst hit on Nifty 50.

On the other hand, banks and financial services companies topped the list of gainers. Half the gainers on Nifty 50 were lenders and other companies linked to financial services.

The Nifty Bank index rose 0.7% to close at 40323.65 points and also hit a lifetime high of 40587.35 points during the day. The banking and financial services were the only major sectoral indices that ended the week with gains on the National Stock Exchange. Analysts expect the momentum in the sector to continue going ahead as well even as the trend in Nifty 50 continues to look subdued.

The short-term trend for the Nifty 50 is bearish and the support for the index is placed at 17900 points, said Nandish Shah, senior technical and derivative analyst at HDFC Securities. He advises caution until Nifty 50 closes above 18400 points as the overall sentiment has deteriorated with the broader market falling sharply.

The mid-cap and small-cap indices on NSE have fallen 3-6% this week, sharply higher than the fall in top indices. The trend was similar today as well.

Among companies that detailed their earnings, shares of LIC Housing Finance, Mphasis, IndiaMART InterMESH, Can Fin Homes and South India Bank fell, while Macrotech Developers, TVS Motor Co, Trident, Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India, Federal Bank and Tanla Platforms rose.

* Among Nifty 50 stocks, 16 rose, 33 fell and 1 was unchanged 

* Among Sensex stocks, 13 rose and 17 fell

* On the NSE, 715 stocks rose, 1,252 fell and 70 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 1,315 stocks rose, 1,983 fell and 150 were unchanged

* Nifty Realty: Up 2.6%; Nifty Pharma: Down 1.6%; Nifty Auto: Down 1.1%

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BSE                                               National Stock Exchange
Sensex:60821.62, down 101.88 pts (0.2%)           Nifty 50: 18114.90, down 63.20 pts (0.4%) 
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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 Ashish Shirke

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