Indian stock market falls, investors maintain cautious stance in the new year
Mumbai: After a great start to the new year, the upward trend in the Indian stock market came to a halt on Friday. Heavy selling was seen in the IT, financial services and pharma sectors amid mixed global cues.
The Sensex closed at 79,223.11, down 720.60 points or 0.90 per cent, and the Nifty closed at 24,004.75, down 183.90 points or 0.76 per cent. The Nifty Bank closed at 50,988.8, down 616.75 points or 1.20 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at 57,931.05, down 177.15 points or 0.30 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed at 19,033.70, down 46.65 points or 0.24 per cent.
According to market experts, the Indian stock market witnessed a sharp decline, mainly led by losses in key sectors such as IT, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and banking. “Despite earlier optimism about potential earnings growth for the upcoming quarter, recent economic indicators have tempered expectations, leading to volatility in the market, as investors remain cautious in the new year,” they said.
On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 2,115 stocks closed in the green and 1,871 in the red, while 117 stocks remained unchanged. On the sectoral front, buying was seen in PSU banks, FMCG, metals, media, energy and commodities sectors. In the Sensex pack, Zomato, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, TCS, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, HCL Tech, ITC, L&T, M&M and Bharti Airtel were the top losers.
While, Tata Motors, Titan, Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, IndusInd Bank and Tata Steel were the top gainers. FIIs bought shares worth Rs 1,506.75 crore on January 2 and domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 22.14 crore.
According to Rupak Dey of LKP Securities, Nifty could not move above 50 EMA on the daily timeframe, resulting in a decline in the market. He informed, “However, the sentiment remains positive with the index closing above 24,000. RSI shows bullish crossover. On the upside, the index can move towards 24,200-24,220, on breaking above 24,220 it can potentially reach 24,500. Conversely, a decisive move below 24,000 can take the index towards 23,700.”
