Market Wrap Podcast, August 5: All that happened in the markets today

It was a lacklustre end to a vibrant day on Dalal Street, as the benchmark indices ended the session nearly flat after hitting fresh peaks in intra-day trade. After three days of hefty gains, profit booking was a given and the formation of a Doji candle on the tech charts also indicated indecision at higher levels. Furthermore, the advance-decline ratio at nearly 1:2 also indicates the underlying bearish sentiment.

Even then, the benchmark indices braced volatility to end the session at a record close and Nifty managed to cruise past the 16,300 mark. While the global setup remained supportive, the major factors contributing to gains were FII buying and robust Q1 earnings.

At the index level, BSE Sensex closed 123 points or 0.23 per cent higher at 54,493. NSE Nifty settled at 16,295, up 36 points or 0.22 per cent. Sensex had touched an all-time high of 54,717.24 in trade today and Nifty at 16,349.45.

Airtel, ITC, Tech Mahindra and Tata Steel were the top index gainers and SBI, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance and ICICI Bank were the top losers.

In the broader markets, BSE Smallcap and BSE Midcap underperformed Sensex. Smallcap index shed 0.43 per cent and Midcap rose 0.1 per cent.

Sectorally, rate-sensitive sectors banking, realty and auto faced selling ahead of the RBI policy outcome on Friday while defensives IT and FMCG gained along with Metals. Nifty PSU Bank was the worst performer, down over 2 per cent.

In stock-specific action, the day belonged to the telecom stocks. Shares of Vodafone Idea staged a smart rebound as they recovered over 15 per cent from day's low to end the session 0.80 per cent higher on NSE. Meanwhile, Airtel surged to over 6 months high in intra-day and emerged to be the best performing Sensex stock with a gain of over 4 per cent.

Both stocks reacted after Kumar Mangalam Birla stepped down from Voda Idea's board. Analysts lapped up Airtel shares amid hopes that a duopoly market will lead to market share for Airtel and be a good enough kicker for a hike in tariffs.

Further, shares of Hikal and Gail reacted to their stellar Q1 earnings. Gail's profit swelled by 235 per cent YoY to Rs 2,157 crore and its revenue jumped 44 per cent to Rs 17,588 crore. The stock although ended marginally higher at Rs 143. Hikal shares on the other hand jumped 11 per cent as the company posted Q1 PAT at Rs 50.5 crore versus Rs 15 crore in the same quarter last year.

Now, going into trade on Friday, all eyes will be on the RBI monetary policy outcome. The Street is factoring in a status quo on repo rate and 'accommodative' policy stance. However, the central bank's commentary on the growth outlook, inflation projection, and liquidity measures will sway the markets.

Further on the earnings front, over 100 companies are slated to post their numbers including M&M, Voltas, Ujjivan SFB, Tata Power, Torrent Power, SAIL, Hindalco, Indigo Paints, BEML and BEL. Lastly, action in the IPO market will also be in focus as all four IPOs will open for their last day of subscription. At the end of Day 2, the Exxaro Tiles IPO was subscribed 10 times, Windlas Biotech 7 times, Devyani 6.5 times and Krsnaa 5 times.