The equity market ended in the negative, snapping a four-day winning streak. Starting off the week on tepid global cues, the market was gripped by profit-booking at higher levels.
Intense selling pressure was seen in pharmaceuticals, consumer durables and oil and gas space.
Last week’s outperformers — banking stocks — were under pressure in today’s session with ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank ending weak.
However, autos, IT and telecom stocks bucked the trend. The indices ended up around 0.5% each.
The Sensex closed at 20,224, down 62 points, while the Nifty ended down 30 points at 6,157.
The advance-decline ratio favoured the bears with 1302 stocks declining as against 1116 advances. Around 130 stocks remained unchanged.
Volatility as measured by India VIX closed up 1% at 17.71. It hit a day’s high of 17.99 and low of 17.57.
TCS, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma and Hindustan Unilever gained while TCS, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma and Hindustan Unilever lost out.
Speaking on the road ahead for the market, Amar Ambani, Head of Research at IIFL, feels investors should not worry if the market consolidates or slips further from current levels before attempting a test of its all-time highs.
He sees monsoons as the key trigger for markets going forward. “Among global cues, the minutes of Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting and US initial jobless claims data will be closely tracked in the next few sessions.”
Stocks in News:
Infosys closed with 1% gains at Rs. 2376 per share despite the IT major being issued a Rs. 577 crore tax demand.
GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare slipped 6.6% at Rs. 4,748 per share on profit taking after surging 26% in the past one week on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
ING Vysya Bank ended down 2% after the company said it plans to raise up to Rs. 20bn via issue of 30 million equity shares.
Lupin felll 4% in trade today after Mylan launched a generic version of its cholesterol-lowering Tricor tablets.