Stock market today: Profit booking at higher levels came into play once again as the Indian stock market benchmarks—the Sensex and the Nifty 50—ended with losses, snapping their four-day winning run on Friday, June 28.
Benchmarks hit their fresh all-time highs during the session but succumbed to profit booking at higher levels as investors booked profit amid mixed global cues.
The Nifty 50 hit a fresh record high of 24,174 during the session but failed to hold altitude and ended 34 points, or 0.14 per cent, lower at 24,010.60, with 26 stocks in the green and 24 in the red.
The 30-share pack hit a fresh record high of 79,671.58 but eventually ended with a loss of 210 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 79,032.73, with 20 stocks in the red.
“Profit taking in banking stocks led the downfall in key benchmark indices, which had hit fresh intra-day highs in early optimism. While markets displayed volatility and ended weak in late selling, both Sensex and Nifty 50 managed to close above their psychological levels of 79k and 24k, respectively," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities, observed.
However, the mid and small-cap segments bucked the trend in benchmarks and ended with gains.
The BSE Midcap index rose 0.41 per cent, and the Smallcap index ended 0.56 per cent higher. Thanks to gains in these segments, the overall market capitalisation of the firms listed on the BSE rose to nearly ₹439 lakh crore from nearly ₹438 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors richer by about a lakh crore in a session.
Over 250 stocks hit their fresh 52-eek highs, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, JSW Steel and Tech Mahindra.
Shares of Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel rose as they hiked some of their tariff plans, which experts say will boost their revenue and profitability and augur well for the sector overall.
Reliance share price ended among the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index but the shares of Bharti Airtel ended among the top losers of the index due to profit booking.
After a 0.3 per cent decline in May due to election-related jitters, the Nifty 50 surged nearly 7 per cent in June, driven by renewed buying from foreign institutional investors (FIIs). A healthy economic growth outlook, anticipated above-normal monsoon, and strong domestic retail investor inflows bode well for the market.
However, the market appears to have discounted most of these factors and is searching for fresh triggers to start the next leg of the rally. Even though the large-cap segment of the market is not at frothy valuations, the mid and small-cap spaces have seen strong buying interest from retail investors. This has shot up their valuation.
Shares of Dr Reddy's Labs (up 2.63 per cent), ONGC (up 2.56 per cent) and Reliance Industries (up 2.19 per cent) ended as the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index.
Shares of Axis Bank (down 1.95 per cent), ICICI Bank (down 1.86 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (down 1.82 per cent) closed as the top losers in the index.
The Nifty Bank index ended with a loss of 0.89 per cent, while the Financial Services index fell 0.87 per cent. Nifty Private Bank index suffered a loss of 1.24 per cent, but the PSU Bank index ended with a healthy gain of 0.88 per cent.
Nifty Oil & Gas (up 1.68 per cent), Pharma (up 1.11 per cent) and Healthcare (up 1.10 per cent) ended with significant gains.
"India’s optimism about the upcoming budget and upgrade in GDP forecasts continues to provide momentum in the market. Large caps are in favour due to the comeback of FIIs. However, profit booking ensued at the end of the week, at higher levels, in financials, especially private banks, which dragged the market down after the recent rally," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
"The index formed a small-bodied red candle, breaking a four-day winning streak. The sentiment remains strong as the index closed significantly above the critical moving average. However, after a continuous rally, the index looks a bit heavy and might attract profit booking if Nifty sustains below 24,000. On the lower end, the index might fall towards 23,850/23,700 in the short term upon a decisive fall below 24,000. On the higher end, resistance is visible at 24,200," said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities.
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