Nifty drops 38 points on profit taking, financials take a hit

Bourses remained in the grip of profit booking for the second day as investors pocketed gains from the recent rally, leading the benchmark CNX Nifty to drop by 38 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
Financials, particularly PSU bank stocks, bore the brunt of selling after a sharp rally last week, pulling down the main index. FMCG, auto, metal and energy counters, too, attracted short selling pressure.
On the other hand, technology and healthcare stocks rallied on the back of a string of robust earnings reports.
After the overnight sell-off, trading commenced on a quiet note with positive bias on the back of some low-level buying support. It gained momentum as the session progressed and mostly traded in tight range before succumbing to profit taking and ending with losses.

Investors turned cautious after realising the latest round of upswing in markets is not backed by fundamentals and is primarily driven by foreign investors though the second quarter earnings had been better than expected, traders said.
Other Asian markets ended mixed ahead of European Central Bank meet outcome and US Q3 GDP data tomorrow.

The 50-share index hovered between a high of 6,269.70 and a low of 6,208.70 before finishing at 6,215.15, showing a fall of 38 points, or 0.61 per cent, over the last close.
State Bank of India topped the losers' list, impacted by the base rate hike decision. Other laggards included PNB, DLF, Ambuja Cement, Sesa Sterlite, IndusInd Bank, NMDC, Bank of Baroda and Jindal Steel.

Key index stocks gainers were NTPC, TCS, Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy, Infosys, Asian Paints, Power Grid, Coal India, Cipla and Tata Power.
The turnover in the cash segment dropped to 10,931.45 from 12,845.45 crore yesterday. A total of 6,848.04 lakh shares changed hands in 60,73,416 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 67,00,853 crore.