Domestic market benchmarks ended lower on April 5, breaking their two-day winning run, as investors booked profit in select banking and financial heavyweights a day after they had propelled the market 2 percent higher.
Profit booking in banking and financial heavyweights including HDFC twins, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, SBI and IndusInd Bank dragged market benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty lower.
Global cues were mixed as the West imposed fresh sanctions on Russia. As per a Reuters report, Moscow faced more Western sanctions on Tuesday in retaliation for civilian killings in northern Ukraine.
Crude oil prices again rose today amid concerns over supply constraints. Brent Crude traded near $110 a barrel. Rupee, however, rose 22 paise to close at 75.33 per dollar.
Sensex closed 435 points, or 0.72 percent, lower at 60,176.50 and the Nifty50 closed the day with a loss of 96 points, or 0.53 percent, at 17,957.40.
NTPC, Power Grid, ITC, Titan and TCS ended as the top gainers among Sensex stocks while HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank ended as the top laggards.
However, mid and small caps outperformed the benchmarks strongly as the BSE Midcap index rose 1.28 percent while the smallcap index closed with a gain of 1.37 percent.
"Frontline indices took a breather after yesterday’s rally and as the global market moderated. But broad market continued its positive trend. Mid and smallcaps have become attractive after the consolidation of the last five to six months. Such a trend of outperformance can be expected with volatility in the short to medium term as Russia – Ukraine war, rate hikes and inflation are factored in the current market price," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Among the sectoral indices, BSE Utilities and Power jumped 3.34 percent and 3.38 percent respectively. On the flip side, bank and finance indices fell over a percent each.
As many as 173 stocks, including Sun Pharma, Power Grid, Vedanta, Tata Power, Jindal Steel, Adani Power, Adani Green Energy and Adani Enterprises, hit their fresh 52-week highs on BSE.
"Markets may consolidate after the recent surge and it would be healthy. However, there will be no shortage of trading opportunities, thanks to scheduled events like the RBI monetary policy review meet and the beginning of the earnings season. Participants should focus on the sectors and themes which are playing out well and utilise the pause to accumulate quality stocks on dips," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking.
"The market might consolidate for some time before the key event of RBI’s policy meet due this week which would provide some direction to the market. Banking stocks are likely to remain in limelight on account of this. Q4 results announcements would also kick start with IT companies which would keep the markets volatile. Investors would closely track the corporate commentaries given the current global environment," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of MintGenie.
