Market Wrap: Sensex, Nifty fall for second consecutive session; mid, smallcaps outperform

Frontline indices the Sensex and the Nifty ended in the negative territory for the second consecutive session on April 18 dragged by losses in shares of select heavyweights including Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.

Mixed global cues failed to lift sentiment. The US markets ended with gains overnight and major European markets also traded with gains. However, most Asian markets faltered.

Sensex opened nearly 81 points higher at 59,991.26 but remained volatile throughout the session, swinging as much as 534 points.

The index finally closed 184 points, or 0.31 percent lower at 59,727.01 while the Nifty ended with a loss of 47 points, or 0.26 percent, at 17,660.15.

Mid and smallcaps outperformed the benchmark; the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended with gains of 0.52 percent and 0.22 percent respectively.

Even though the benchmark Sensex ended lower, some 123 stocks, including ITC, DLF and Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company, hit their 52-week highs in intraday trade on BSE.

Crude oil prices fell for the second day despite upbeat Chinese economic data as concerns over rate hikes and global economic slowdown weighed on sentiment.

Brent Crude traded near the $84 per barrel mark. The rupee slipped nearly 7 paise to end at 82.04 per dollar, as per Bloomberg data, on the greenback's gains against its peers.

Top Nifty gainers and losers

Shares of Divi's Labs (up 3.08 percent), HCL Tech (up 2.27 percent) and Cipla (up 2.06 percent) ended as the top gainers in the Nifty index.

On the flip side, shares of Power Grid (down 2.43 percent), UltraTech Cement (down 1.90 percent) and Adani Enterprises (down 1.80 percent) ended as the top losers in the Nifty pack of stocks.

As many as 29 stocks ended in the red while 21 ended in the green in the Nifty index.

Pharma, realty stocks shine

Sectoral indices ended mixed. Among the gainers, Nifty Pharma (up 1.64 percent) remained at the top, followed by Nifty Healthcare (up 1.23 percent) and Realty (up 1.04 percent).

Among the losers, Nifty Consumer Durables fell 0.36 percent while Media, FMCG and Financial Services ended 0.33 percent lower each.

Nifty Bank ended flat.

Expert's view on markets

"The banking stocks pared the performance during the day while the market was grappling with the selloff in the IT sector. However, the IT sector experienced a marginal relief rally, aided by bottom fishing, as the recent correction has made the sector attractive for long-term investment. The pharma sector also bucked the negative trend due to an improvement in outlook along with strong movements in mid and small-cap stocks," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Technical views on markets

Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas pointed out that the Nifty traded within the range of 17,863 – 17,574 of the previous trading session.

Gedia observed that the hourly Bollinger bands are contracting on account of the sideways price action and are also suggesting rangebound price action. The daily momentum indicator has a positive crossover which is a buy signal.

"We are getting divergence signals from price and momentum indicators and this often results in a rangebound movement. During this phase of consolidation, we can expect sector rotation and stock-specific price action. The range of consolidation is likely to be 17,500 – 17,800 for the next few trading sessions," he said.

Key market data

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of MintGenie.