Sensex, Nifty open lower as bears return on Dalal Street
By Koustav Das: Benchmark stock market indices started off Friday’s trading session on a weak note, mirroring the trend in global markets amid the hawkish stance adopted by central banks.
The S&P BSE Sensex traded at around 271 points lower at 62,967 at around 9:30 am, while the NSE Nifty 50 fell nearly 100 points to 18,674. While the Sensex had hit record high in the previous two trading session, Nifty fell short despite coming within touching distance.
It seems the key indices are likely to consolidate going forward, as investors turn cautious in the wake of weak global cues.
Ahead of today’s market opening, Deven Mehata, research analyst at Choice, said, “The market is likely to open marginally lower today as the SGX Nifty indicates a negative start for the broader index, with a loss of 28 points.”
“Based on the statistics presented above, we can see some profit booking at higher levels. Positional investors can buy in the critical support zone of 18600-18650 with a stop loss of around 18500. Traders can also use a sell-on-rise strategy with a stop loss of 18900 and book short trades near the 18650-18600 support zone,” he added.
All of the sectoral indices were trading in the red in early trade, indicating high levels profit booking in the market.
The top five gainers on the Nifty 50 were Asian Paints, NTPC, Dr Reddy’s, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Auto. On the other hand, the top laggards were Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, BPCL, Hindalco and Tech Mahindra.
Among individual shares, Eros International Media shares slumped as much as 20 per cent after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) barred the group’s managing director, Sunil Arjan Lulla, and three of the company’s entities from the securities market, citing accounting irregularities.
Most analysts said markets are likely to see some consolidation near record-high levels as there are concerns over overvaluation among both foreign and domestic investors.
Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 693.28 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased shares worth Rs 219.42 crore on June 22, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange shows.
