Profit booking drags equities lower, Nifty's intra-day high

Mumbai, May 5: Indian equity markets on Friday closed with losses as investors booked profits. However, despite closing in the red, a key index touched a new intra-day record high. The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the tiol Stock Exchange (NSE) scaled an intra-day high of 9,374.55 points. Its previous intra-day high was on April 27 — 9,367.15 points. However, the NSE Nifty declined by 74.60 points or 0.80 per cent to close the day’s trade at 9,285.30 points.

The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 30,142.14 points, closed at 29,858.80 points — down 267.41 points or 0.89 per cent from the previous day’s close at 30,126.21 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 30,176.55 points and a low of 29,823.60 points during the day’s trade. The BSE market breadth was bearish — with 2,015 declines and 811 advances. In terms of the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap index fell by 1.09 per cent while the small-cap index was down 0.84 per cent. “The Nifty opened today with positive note and and made new all time high around 9,377 levels on the opening freak trade. It later shifted into sharp weakness from the highs. Sectorally, all the sectors of broader market have slipped into decline and no sectors have closed in positive note,” Deepak Jasani, Head (Retail Research), HDFC Securities, told IANS. “Major Asian markets have ended on a mixed note. European indices like FTSE currently traded in positive trend and DAX and CAC 40 traded in negative trend.”

And James, Chief Market Strategist of Geojit Fincial Services, said: “Markets remained edgy following sharp plunge in oil which also dragged metal stocks lower. Meanwhile, the President’s nod for NPA (non-performing assets) ordince and expectations towards key banking amendments kept investors interested.” In investments, provisiol data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutiol investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 363.98 crore while domestic institutiol investors (DIIs) purchased scrip worth Rs 298.11 crore. According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, the equity benchmark indices traded with bearish sentiments throughout the session on selling pressure.

The Indian rupee margilly weakened by 19-20 paise to 64.37-38 per US dollar from its previous close of 64.18 to a greenback. “USD/INR futures prices witnessed smart recovery from lower levels which pressurised the equity market sentiments. Banking sector stocks failed to hold gains in the second half of the session and traded with mixed sentiments,” Desai told IANS. “Most aviation sector stocks traded firm tracking lower oil prices, led by IndiGo and Jet Airways. IT sector stocks faced resistance at higher levels and traded with bearish sentiments, while oil-gas sector stocks witnessed selling pressure throughout the session.” All the 19 sub-indices of the BSE closed the day’s in the red, led by the metal index, which plunged by 275.04 points. The automobile index dipped by 258.85 points, and the oil and gas index fell by 232.19 points.

Major Sensex gainers on Friday were: Adani Ports, up 1.56 per cent at Rs 344.90; Asian Paints, up 1.40 per cent at Rs 1,146.20; ICICI Bank, up 0.20 per cent at Rs 298.55; and Maruti Suzuki, up 0.17 per cent at Rs 6,648.15.

Major Sensex losers were: Tata Motors, down 3.84 per cent at Rs 419.75; ONGC, down 2.83 per cent at Rs 183.40; Axis Bank, down 2.70 per cent at Rs 504.90; Reliance Industries, down 2.22 per cent at Rs 1,328.60; and Tata Steel, down 2.18 per cent at Rs 433. (IANS)