Metals, financials drag indices; Sensex falls 338 pts, Nifty holds 14,900

Heavyweights HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS, and HDFC contributed the most towards the indices' losses

5:21 PM

TECH VIEW :: Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research

The market continues to witness a lack of upside momentum and corrected to close the gap around 14900 it has seen as on 18-May-2021. As of now, the short-term technical condition of the market appears like a correction in the process. While it is subject to further price action evolution, It is prudent to wait for a decisive breakout above 15000 before adding to the existing position, if any. Once this level is met, the market to gain momentum, leading to an upside projection till the level of 15400.

5:17 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities

Indian benchmark equity indices ended lower for the second consecutive session on May 20. Nifty opened mildly higher but sold off in the first few minutes of trade. It later attempted to rise but made lower top, lower bottoms. Post 1400 Hrs, it fell sharply and closed near the low of the day. At close, the Nifty was down 124.20 points or 0.83% at 14,906.

 

Volumes on the NSE were lower than recent averages. Among sectors, Realty was the only major gainer while Metals, Banks and Oil & Gas were the main losers.

 

Nifty fell amidst lower than average volumes with advance decline ratio becoming equal. In the process, the upgap formed on May 18 has been filled, nullifying the sharp bullishness. However nervousness out of recent data on inflation and cryptocurrency sell-off seems to have tapered off or already in the price. 14824-15009 is the near term band for the Nifty. 

5:05 PM

TECH VIEW :: Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director at Choice Broking

Technically, the nifty index has failed to sustain above the Falling Trendline and closed below the 15000 marks. Moreover, the index has also faced immediate resistance at the Upper Band of Bollinger formation that suggests a bearish move for the near term. In addition, the index has also confirmed Shooting Star candlestick pattern breakdown, which is a sign of further correction. An oscillator Stochastic showed a negative crossover on the daily chart, which indicates some correction for the upcoming trading session. At present, the Nifty is holding support at 14,750 while an upside resistance seems to be at 15,150.

4:50 PM

TECH VIEW :: Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities

The weakness of Thursday seems to be in line with the positive chart pattern of the market. If a crucial support of 14900 is broken decisively on the downside, then the bets of upside breakout could be off and more weakness could be set in. A sustainable upmove from the support of 14900 is likely to pull Nifty towards 15140-15200 levels in the short term.

4:36 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

Domestic market witnessed selling due to lack of further domestic cues and weak global market.  Wall Street has extended its losses as US treasury yield and dollar index jumped post the release of a watchful Fed minute, which was below the expectations. Fed minutes signalled a plausible slowdown in bond buying “at some point”, a shift in policy in the future, which will have an implication on EMs

4:26 PM

TECH VIEW :: Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities

Index showed profit-booking pressure second day and given closing at 14906 with loss of nearly one per cent & formed a bearish candle for the second consecutive day. It seems the index has to retest its descending channel breakout zone if turned right then we may see good pull back from current levels towards the immediate hurdle zone of 15000-15100 but if failed to sustain some more profit booking can be seen towards nearest support zone of 14850-14775

4:16 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking

Markets witnessed profit taking for the second day in a row and lost nearly a percent. After opening on a flat note, the benchmark traded lackluster however selling pressure in the latter half pushed the index lower.  On the sector front, Metal, Banking & Oil & Gas were the top losers wherein Consumer Durables and Capital Goods ended with gains. The broader market indices outperformed the benchmark and ended almost on the flat note.

 

Weak global cues are weighing on the sentiments for the last couple of sessions and we may see further choppiness in global markets on inflation fear. However, reduction is COVID cases in India is certainly comforting the participants. We believe the Indian markets could outperform in the near term given it has underperformed when the global markets were rallying. We suggest keeping a check on leveraged positions and focusing more on managing the overnight risk.  

4:05 PM

MARKET INSIGHT :: Should you chase the rally in small-caps?

S&P BSE SmallCap index, which hit record highs of 23,093 today, is up by 120% in the last 1 year and almost 200% from the lows of April 2020. Small caps stocks were heavily impacted during the Covid sell off in April 2020. Despite a stellar rally in the large-caps last year, the midcaps & small caps did not participate in the initial bull run.

However, over the last 2-3 months, we have seen a bull run in mid-caps as well as small-caps. The main reason for the bull run in small cap is that the premium gap between large cap and small cap hit the lowest in the month of February 2021. In small cap, many stocks are trading at higher side of their last 10-year valuations but some of the stocks are trading at attractive valuation like LT foods. That said, we suggest retail investors to be cautious on small cap stocks as we expect it time to be stock specific rather than index oriented.

Views by: Yash Gupta, Equity Research Associate at Angel Broking

4:00 PM

Investment strategy :: Metal index cracks 3%; what should investors do now?

S&P BSE Metal index has seen some profit booking as the metal index has become 3x in the last 1 year, We have seen a one-sided rally in the metal index from lows of 6,145 in May 2020 to highs of 20,429 in May 2021. We may see some healthy corrections of 10%-15% from highs in the metal index as well as in stocks. Stocks like Tata Steel and Jindal steel leading the metal index, down by 4% each, while VEDL and JSW steel down by 1.5% each.
 

Fundamentally, stocks look stretched on the higher side despite above expectation results from metal companies in this quarter and several companies are focusing on deleveraging their balance sheet by paying off the debt within the next 1 year.

 

We expect this correction in the metal index can be 10%-15%. That said, the stocks will rebound from there and, thus, we suggest investors to be invested in the sector and expect very good returns in the next couple of years.

Views by: Yash Gupta, Equity Research Associate at Angel Broking 

3:54 PM

BSE Snapshot :: Advance to decline ratio favours bulls

3:53 PM

Volatility Alert

India VIX ends 1.7% higher at 19.65 levels.

3:52 PM

Broader market :: S&P BSE SmallCap index ends near record peak level

The index hit fresh record high of 23,093 levels earlier today

3:50 PM

NSE Snapshot :: Top Nifty stocks that remained buoyant amid sell-off

3:47 PM

Heavyweights that dragged the Sensex today :: RIL, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank slip up to 1.5%

3:44 PM

Sectoral trends on the NSE :: Trend remains largely negative

3:41 PM

Sensex Heatmap at Close

Top gainers: M&M, IndusInd Bank, Titan

Top losers: Sun Pharma, ONGC, Power Grid

3:36 PM

Rupee Closing

Rupee closes at 73.10 per US dollar vs Wednesday's close of 73.17/$

3:34 PM

CLOSING BELL

The BSE barometer of 30-shares was down 338 points, or 0.68 per cent, at 49,565 levels while the Nifty50 index quoted at 14,906 levels, down 124 points or 0.83 per cent. In the intra-day trade, the indices hit a low of 49,497 and 14,885, respectively.

3:27 PM

MARKET CHECK :: Sensex recovers from day's low

3:13 PM

Metals under pressure; Tata Steel, Hindalco, SAIL, JSPL slip 5%

Among individual stocks, Tata Steel, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), and Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) slipped 5 per cent each, while Coal India, National Aluminium Company, NMDC, Vedanta, and JSW Steel from these indices were down 2 per cent to 4 per cent.

 

At 02:51 pm, Nifty Metal index was down 3 per cent and S&P BSE Metal index 3.7 per cent. In comparison, the Nifty50 and S&P BSE Sensex were down 0.86 per cent and 0.71 per cent, respectively. With today’s decline, the S&P BSE Metal index has now corrected 10 per cent from its record high level of 20,429, touched on May 11, 2021. READ MORE

3:02 PM

Global markets :: Dow Jones Futures tumble 170 pts

2:49 PM

India's largest vial maker expects sales to triple on vaccine ramp up

Indian drug vial maker Schott Kaisha is expecting annual vial sales for Covid-19 shots to more than triple as vaccine production, including by one of its top customers Serum Institute, increases in response to a monster second wave of infections.

 

An Indo-German joint venture between specialty glass makers Schott AG and Kaisha, the company expects to sell 380 million vials for Covid-19 vaccines in 2021-22, up from 113 million a year earlier, Director Rishad Dadachanji said in an interview. READ MORE

2:49 PM

Top losers on BSE at this hour

Company	PRICE(rs)	CHG(%)
Birla Corpn.	1248.35	-5.90
Indian Energy Ex	361.90	-5.20
Tata Steel	1107.00	-4.92
Jindal Steel	401.65	-4.80
Gland Pharma	3176.50	-4.65

2:41 PM

Heatmap: 23 of the 30 BSE Sensex constituents trade in the red

2:36 PM

Market Watch :: Sensex at day's low

2:25 PM

Blockchain, cryptocurrency can help democratise financial services: PayPal

Digital payments major PayPal on Thursday said the technological shift brought in by blockchain and cryptocurrency can help democratise financial services and bring in greater financial inclusion.

 

PayPal also highlighted that it has an offensive and defensive strategy for cybersecurity to ensure it can continue offering safe and secure user experience on its platform. READ MORE

2:13 PM

Market Stats :: Sensex falls but advance-decline ratio favours buyers

>> 1,686 stocks advance on BSE as against a decline of 1,278 stocks

>> 286 stocks scaled their 52-week high today

>> 22 stocks hit 52-week lows

(Source: BSE)

1:59 PM

European markets check

(Source: Reuters)

1:55 PM

China's industrial commodities dip after Beijing warns of market crackdown

China's main industrial commodities tumbled on Thursday after the government announced stepped-up measures to keep a lid on soaring raw material prices which threaten to undermine the country's economic recovery. Prices of key steelmaking ingredients iron ore and coking coal, as well as steel products such as rebar and hot-rolled coil, all swooned more than 5% as traders offloaded supplies and speculators placed short-sided bets that Beijing's measures will trigger a further pullback in metals markets. READ MORE

1:54 PM

DBS can fund $2 billion for Citi India's assets: Bernstein

DBS Group Holdings Ltd. has sufficient capital to bid for Citigroup Inc.’s consumer assets in India valued at S$2.7 billion ($2 billion) without needing to raise additional funds, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analysts said.

 

It’s a case of “either go big or go home” for DBS to further expand in India where the Singapore-based bank also acquired Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd. in November, Bernstein analysts led by Kevin Kwek wrote in a report Thursday. DBS Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta last month said he is interested in the U.S. bank’s assets that are for sale in the South Asian country, as well as in China, Taiwan and Indonesia. READ MORE