Sensex, Nifty Reverse Trend And Fall, Snap 6-Day Winning Streak

Indian equity benchmarks reversed the trend and snapped a six-day winning streak, settling marginally lower on Thursday.

The 30-share BSE Sensex index fell marginally, by 51.73 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 58,298.80, while the broader NSE Nifty eased a touch by 0.04 per cent to 17,382 on Thursday, breaking the sequence of six straight days of gains. 

"Profit taking finally came into play after 6-session gains, as rate-sensitive sectors like banking and realty faltered ahead of the RBI's policy meet on Friday. Key indices pared most of their losses towards the end as strength in other Asian and European indices aided sentiment," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities.

The Sensex gained 214.17 points or 0.37 percent on Wednesday, marking the first time in the previous seven trading days that the index closed in the red.

NTPC was the biggest laggard in the Sensex pack, slipping 3.10 per cent, followed by SBI, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, PowerGrid, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank and HDFC.

In contrast, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, Infosys, Dr Reddy's, Wipro, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Steel were among the major gainers, climbing up to 2.46 per cent.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge went higher by 0.29 per cent and the smallcap index advanced 0.25 per cent.

From the BSE sectoral indices, telecom declined by 1.14 per cent, followed by realty (1.11 per cent), utilities (0.70 per cent) and power (0.64 per cent).

Among the gainers were healthcare (1.93 per cent), IT (1.23 per cent), metal (1.01 per cent) and tech (1.05 per cent).

"Markets will be closely eyeing the outcome of MPC's monetary policy meet on Friday. Before that, the performance of the global indices amid the fresh developments on China-Taiwan tension would dictate the trend in early trades," Ajit Mishra, Vice President for Research at Religare Broking, told PTI.

"On the index front, the Nifty has been seeing consolidation on expected lines. However, rise in volatility is making life tough for the traders. We recommend preferring hedged positions and focusing on the defensive pack as well," he added.

The Nifty saw turbulence following six straight sessions of advances. In the previous session, the Nifty had increased by 42.70 points, or 0.25 percent.

Reliance Industries Limited, a significant component of the index, closed 1.32 percent lower at Rs 2,571.40. NTPC decreased 3.10 per cent to Rs 154.80.

The price of banking equities was under intense selling pressure.

State Bank of India decreased 1.46 per cent to Rs 532.90, Axis Bank decreased 1.17 per cent to Rs 721.75 and Kotak Bank decreased by 0.88 per cent to Rs 1,835.10.

IndusInd Bank decreased by 0.77 percent to Rs 1,050.10 and ICICI Bank ended the day 0.59 per cent lower at Rs 819.85.

Sixteen of the 30 scrips that are part of the benchmark Sensex closed in the positive.

Sun Pharma jumped 2.46 per cent to Rs 919. Nestle India rose 2.39 per cent to Rs 19834.80. Infosys jumped 2.20 per cent to Rs 1599.65.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Wipro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services and ITC were among the major Sensex gainers.

"Markets snapped its 6-day winning streak on the back of profit booking. Volatility was the hallmark of today's trade as Nifty wobbled amidst reports of rising US-China tension. The positive takeaway however was that Nifty recouped most of its losses from days low of 17,161 to end a tad below the dotted lines at 17.382 mark," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior Vice President for Research at Mehta Equities.