Stock Market Updates: Sensex, Nifty Trade Flat; Defence Stocks Crack Up To 13%

Sensex Today: Domestic benchmark indices erased opening gains on Tuesday and slid into the negative territory with the Nifty index near 19,950, easing from an intra-day high of 20,110. The Sensex index was down nearly 500 pts from its day’s high of 67,539.

L&T, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, TCS, Axis Bank and Infosys were the only gainers on the BSE Sensex, rising 0.3-3 per cent. Meanwhile, Adani Ports, BPCL, Coal India, Adani Enterprises, Power Grid, RIL, HUL were the leading laggards across the benchmarks.

L&T scaled a new high, surging 3.5 per cent after the company raised its buyback price to Rs 3,200 from Rs 3,000 earlier.

The broader markets saw a steep fall with the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices falling 3 per cent each.

Sectorally, Nifty Pharma index rallied over 1 per cent, leading gains. While Auto, FMCG and Realty indices trailed in the red territory.

Nifty @ 50K

Parth Nyati, Founder at Tradingo, said: The Nifty 50 index has been on a bull run since the start of the year and has touched a record high of 20,000 points. The market is currently trading at a PE ratio of around 22, which is slightly above its historical average.

Since the low 16828 of March 23, Nifty has surged by 18%, which was fuelled by DII’s inflow of Rs. 34,000 Cr (appx) during this period. Meanwhile, the mid-and small-cap indices have seen an even more substantial rally, each rising by about 41 percent and 47 percent respectively.

However, despite this significant rally and increasing values of local stocks, there are concerns due to weaknesses in the global market. These problems are driven by a strong US dollar and rising US bond yields. Last week, the number of people in the US filing for unemployment benefits was lower than expected, which has raised worries about the possibility of interest rates going up. Additionally, China’s trade balance data is showing weakness, which is making the US dollar even stronger.

As our PM said, this is India’s Amritkal, so medium- to long-term opportunities in the Indian stock market will be fabulous. Any correction due to global factors will be a good buying opportunity in sectors like auto, banking, PSUs, IT etc.

Technically, the Nifty is continuing strong bullish momentum, where 20100 and 20150 are resistance levels. 19850–19720 is an immediate demand zone, while the 50-DMA of 19500 is a key support level. The bullish momentum will continue until the Nifty closes near the day’s low.

Banknifty witnessed a breakout of the 45000 resistance mark, where 45700 is an immediate resistance zone. Above 45700, we can expect a move towards the 46300 level. On the downside, 45000 is an immediate support level, while 44800 is a key support level.

Global markets

US stocks rallied overnight ld by a 1.14 per cent jump in the Nasdaq index, the S&P 500 gained 0.67 per cent and the Dow rose 0.25 per cent.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell by about 1 per cent, mainland Chinese stocks were also subdued, with the CSI 300 down 0.14 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.6 per cent while Nikkei in Japan bucked the trend with a 0.13 per cent gain.