“Global shares paused for breath on Friday as investors digested monetary policy steps from Japan and inflation data on both sides of the Atlantic in the hope of more evidence to persuade central banks to end their rate hiking cycle,” reported Reuters.
As per media reports, the Bank of Japan has changed its approach to managing interest rates. They made their policy more flexible and relaxed their efforts to keep long-term interest rates low.
This week US Fed and European Central Bank hiked rates. The focus now shifts to the Bank of England meeting next week.
Stock Market Today
Sensex opened flat at 66,266.35 against the previous close of 66,266.82 but plunged 388 points to hit its intraday low of 65,878.65.
The index finally closed at 66,160.20, down 107 points, or 0.16 per cent. Nifty50 closed at 19,646.05, down 14 points, or 0.07 per cent. HDFC Bank ended as the top drag on Sensex today, followed by Infosys, TCS and Axis Bank.
Mid and smallcaps outperformed the benchmark index. The BSE Midcap index closed 0.55 per cent higher at 30,159.82 after hitting its record high of 30,178.22. The Smallcap index rose 0.49 per cent to end at 34,548.46 after hitting its fresh record high of 34,577.99.
While the equity benchmarks ended lower, as many as 238 stocks, including Apollo Hospitals, Bharat Electronics, Bharat Forge, Colgate Palmolive India, DLF, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, GAIL, Lupin, Marico, NTPC, ONGC and Zomato, hit their fresh 52-week highs in intraday trade on BSE.
For the week, Sensex slipped 0.8 per cent while the Nifty declined 0.5 per cent. The BSE Midcap index clocked a gain of 2.07 per cent this week while the Smallcap index rose 1.18 per cent.
Top Nifty Gainers and Losers
In the Nifty index, 26 stocks ended in the green while 24 stocks ended lower. Share of NTPC (up 3.76 per cent), Power Grid (up 3.03 per cent) and Apollo Hospitals (up 2.50 per cent) ended as the top gainers in the Nifty index.
On the flip side, shares of Bajaj Finserv (down 1.96 per cent), HDFC Bank (down 1.81 per cent) and BPCL (down 1.53 per cent) ended as the top losers in the Nifty pack.
Sectoral Indices Today
Nifty Realty index, with a gain of 1.83 per cent, emerged as the top gainer among the sectoral indices, followed by the Media index which rose 1.38 per cent.
Nifty Metal (up 0.90 per cent) and FMCG (up 0.88 per cent) rose almost a per cent each.
On the other hand, Nifty IT fell 0.86 per cent. Nifty Bank (down 0.46 per cent), Financial Services (down 0.41 per cent), Private Bank (down 0.33 per cent) and Auto (down 0.22 per cent) indices also ended in the red.
Experts’ Views on Markets
“Weak European market cues and negative US futures kept the local market mood bearish for a major portion of the trading session. Profit-taking in banking and IT stocks weighed on indices, although strong buying in realty shares helped markets pare losses. All eyes will now be on RBI’s credit policy, as it would be interesting to see if the central bank also follows the US Fed and hikes interest rates, which could hurt growth prospects going ahead,” said Amol Athawale, Technical Analyst (VP), Kotak Securities.
Technical Views on Markets
Athawale observed that on intraday charts, the Nifty formed a lower top formation, which is largely negative.
“For positional traders, the 20-day SMA (simple moving average) or 19,580 would act as a sacrosanct support zone. If the index succeeds to trade above the same, then it could bounce back to 19,800. On the further upside, it could lift the market to 19,900,” said Athawale.
“On the flip side, a fresh sell-off is possible only after the dismissal of 19,580 and below the same, it could slip to 19,450-19,400. In the case of Bank Nifty, the 20-day SMA or 45,250 could be the trend decider level, and above the same, the index could move up to 45,700-45,900. On the other side, below 45,250 it could slip to 44,700-44,500,” Athawale said.
“The open Interest data of the August series is hinting at a broad-ranged sideways move. There is call writing happening on the day markets move down and equivalent put writing happening on the day markets rally,” Rahul Ghose, Founder & CEO of Hedged, an algorithm-powered advisory platform, said.
“Nifty is very close to its 20-day exponential moving average where it is likely to take support. The bottom end of the range of Nifty is at 19,365, below which the short-term trend changes to sideways to down from sideways and a strong close below 19,000 makes it completely down,” said Ghose.
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Updated: 28 Jul 2023, 04:07 PM IST