Sensex Today: Indian shares reversed gains on Thursday amid a selloff in index heavyweight RIL and banking counters, while investors kept an eye out for a central bank policy decision on Friday. The S&P BSE Sensex gyrated 1,136 points during the day, before settling at 58,299, down 52 points or 0.09 per cent. The NSE Nifty50, on the other hand, closed at 17,382, down 6 points or 0.04 per cent, after hitting a high of 17,491 and a low of 17,161 during the day.
Defensive sectors were the outperformers today with the Nifty Pharma (up 2.37 per cent), Nifty IT (1.2 per cent), and Nifty FMCG (0.5 per cent) indices clocking the most gains. PSU banks were the worst hit today with the Nifty PSB index down 1.75 per cent.
Among individual stocks, Cipla, Nestle India, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Apollo Hospitals, Hindalco, Divis Labs, Dr Reddy’s Labs, and JSW Steel climbed between 1 per cent and 3.2 per cent. On the downside, NTPC, Tata Consumer Products, Coal India, RIL, SBI, Shree Cement, Power Grid, Kotak Bank, and Axis Ball fell in the range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices added 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.
Foreign investors purchased a net $1.07 billion worth of Indian equities in the first three trading sessions this month, according to Refinitiv data.
Market participants are awaiting the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy meeting on Friday. The RBI has raised rates twice since May and is expected to hike rates again to tame persistently high inflation in Asia’s third-largest economy.
The views on the quantum of increase, however, were split widely between 25 basis points and 50 basis points, a Reuters poll of economists showed.
Among individual stocks, shares of Adani Power hit 52-week high at Rs 352 per share after the company reported a 16-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,780 crore in Q1FY23.
Besides, shares of Adani Total Gas hit 52-week high at Rs 3,335.05 per share ahead of their Q1FY23 results.
Dr. V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “In the mother market of the US, markets are climbing many walls of worries including the US-China skirmishes arising from Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Other markets are taking cues from the strong trend in the US market. In India, the FPIs turning buyers has changed the sentiments in favour of the bulls. The market momentum is so strong that it is overpowering negatives like higher valuations and rising trade deficit. If FPI buying sustains, the market may continue to remain resilient, but investors should exercise some caution. It makes sense to stick with high-quality growth stocks. The strength in Nasdaq indicates that IT will continue to maintain the current uptrend.”
Gold Price Today
Gold prices were steady on Thursday, supported by a pullback in the U.S. Treasury yields and as cautious investors awaited a key U.S. non-farm payrolls report due this week that could offer more cues on the Federal Reserve’s rate-hike stance.
Spot gold held its ground at $1,767.39 per ounce, as of 0239 GMT. U.S. gold futures rose 0.4 per cent to $1,783.90.
Global Cues
Asian stocks rose on Thursday, taking cues from a strong rally on Wall Street after robust economic data and upbeat corporate guidance boosted investor appetite.
Tokyo stocks opened higher Thursday following gains on Wall Street, with investors eyeing corporate earnings. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.69 percent, or 191.39 points, to 27,933.29 at the open, while the broader Topix index rose 0.34 percent, or 6.50 points, to 1,937.27.
US stocks jumped to a sharply higher close and Treasury yields touched two-week highs on Wednesday as robust economic data, upbeat corporate guidance and easing geopolitical concerns boosted investor risk appetite.
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