Snapping three consecutive days of gains the Indian stock markets' key indices, Sensex and Nifty, closed in the red on May 31 dragged by an over 3 percent slump in Sun Pharma and profit booking in IT stocks. The BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended with gains of half a percent each. Bank Nifty closed the session at 354,87.40 level with a loss of 339.40 points.
Nifty halted its upside journey after 3 days continued momentum. It opened on a slightly negative note. It showed upside rally in first half and made an intraday high at 16,690.75 level, but didn’t manage to surpass its previous day’s high.
The BSE Sensex plunged 359.33 points or 0.64 percent at 55,566.41. The broader Nifty50 fell 76.90 or 0.46 percent at 16,584.50. Abour 1,720 shares advanced, 1,548 shares declined and 121 shares are unchanged.
Buying was seen in auto, metals and realty names while power and healthcare stocks witnessed selling pressure. Stocks like ONGC, M&M, Coal India, NTPC were the top gainers. Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, Titan, HDFC were top losers.
Sun Pharma dipped 3.11 percent to Rs 860.45 after announcing disappointing Q4 results.
On Monday, Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 2,227.38 crore for the quarter ended March 2022 as against a net profit of Rs 848 crore recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year, hit by one-time charges on settlement of a pending litigation in the US. The financial results were announced after the markets closed on Monday.
Kotak Bank dipped 2.55 per cent to Rs 1854.20. HDFC fell 2.50 per cent to Rs 2307.20. Titan slumped 1.67 per cent to Rs 2217.60.
After Monday's rally, IT stocks witnessed profit booking. Infosys fell 1.54 per cent to Rs 1503.95. TCS fell 0.32 per cent to Rs 3364.80.
NTPC, Power Grid Corporation, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, ITC, Asian Paints and ICICI Bank were among the major Sensex gainers.
Palak Kothari, Research Associate, Choice Broking, said, the Nifty has formed a Bearish Harami kind of candlestick pattern on daily time frame which indicates weakness for upcoming sessions. Nifty has faced resistance from 38.2 percent FRL and showed selling pressure from higher levels. northward journey in the counter. Nifty has given closing above 21-Hourly Moving Average which indicates sustain above the same can show upside moment in the counter. However, the momentum indicators MACD and Stochastic were trading with a negative crossover on an hourly chart which suggested a southward journey in the counter. The Nifty may find Strong support around 16,400 levels, while on the upside 16,750 may act as an immediate hurdle. On the other hand, Bank Nifty has support at 34,800 levels while resistance at 36,000 levels.
Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities said, financial and IT shares dragged the indices lower, though gains in metal shares lent some support. On the technical front, the key resistance levels for Nifty50 are 16,800 and on the downside 16,400 can act as strong support. Key resistance and support levels for Bank Nifty are 36,000 and 35,000 respectively.
After a lower opening, the Nifty did attract some dip-buying but the morning optimism led by the easing of COVID-19 lockdowns in China turned out to be short-lived, said Prashanth Tapse, Vice President (Research), Mehta Equities. Profit booking turned out to be the preferred theme for the day. Profit-booking started in the markets on fears that central banks across the globe can hike interest rates to curb inflation without impacting economic growth. Partly, denting sentiments was the spike in oil prices which are now at a thre-month high on EU Ban. Digging deeper, Oil prices rose around 2 percent on Tuesday, with WTI crude approaching $119 a barrel and Brent crude trading around $123 a barrel after EU leaders reached an agreement to ban 90 percent of Russian crude by the end of 2022. Also, demand is expected to rise shortly after China eased coronavirus curb.
Asian markets trade in green
Asian markets were trading mostly in green following the lack of cues from Wall Street overnight due to a holiday, as signs of easing COVID-19 curbs in Beijing and Shanghai as well as the announcement of more stimulus measures in China raised optimism about growth in the world's second largest economy and helped underpin sentiment.
European markets were trading mostly in red as attention shifts to inflation and interest-rate hikes.
Rupee slips
The rupee depreciated 12 paise to close at 77.66 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday, tracking a negative trend in domestic equities and surging crude oil prices.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 77.65 against the greenback and finally settled at 77.66, down 12 paise over its previous close.
During the session, the rupee touched an intra-day low of 77.70 and a high of 77.62.
On Monday, the rupee settled at 77.54 against the US dollar. This is also the fifth straight monthly decline for the rupee amid weak risk sentiments, foreign fund outflows, and concerns over high inflation.
