An evening walk down Dalal Street | Indices end at lower levels; Nifty below 10,150; midcaps crack

It’s curtains on this session for the market. And it has been a marginal pullback in the last hour from its low points. A fall in crude prices, which slipped to around USD 79 per barrel is likely to have impacted the movement. The Nifty has ended below 10,200-mark, while the Sensex closed over 140 points lower.

Major sectors ended the day in the negative zone, with maximum pain visible among IT and pharmaceutical names. Consumption names, too, were under pressure, which fell around 1 percent on Nifty FMCG index. Financials and automobiles, too, were under pressure.

Volatility dominated trade on equity benchmarks, with some global cues, technical factors and NBFC concerns, among others weighing on indices.

At the close of market hours, the Sensex ended lower by 287.15 points or 0.84% at 33847.23, while the Nifty closed down 98.50 points or 0.96% at 10146.80. The market breadth is negative as 822 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,747 shares, while 1,013 shares were unchanged.

IndusInd Bank, HDFC, HPCL and Indiabulls Housing were the top gainers, while Sun Pharma and Asian Paints lost the most.

Stocks in the News

RBL Bank reported healthy 35.80 percent on year growth in second quarter profit to Rs 204.54 crore, driven by all parameters with stable asset quality. However, the stock ended a percent lower.

Bajaj Finance’s shares ended 2 percent lower even as it reported healthy earnings performance for September quarter with standalone profit growing 55 percent on year to Rs 920 crore, but asset quality weakened sequentially.

ITD Cementation India gained more a percent as the company won orders worth Rs 1,066 crore.

Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) rose half a percent as the firm will consider a buyback of its equity shares.

Lastly, shares of Lakshmi Machine Works slipped 6 percent as company's profit declined in the quarter ended September 2018.

Global Cues

European stocks fell to their lowest levels in almost two years as geopolitical tensions surrounding Saudi Arabia as well as Italy dominated cues. Stoxx 600 was down over 1.6 percent.

Meanwhile, Asian markets fell as investors remained cautious amid rising global tensions as well. The Shanghai composite shed 2.26 percent to close at 2,594.83 while the Shenzhen composite declined 1.92 percent to 1,300.29.