Mid-day Mood | Gains in heavyweights help indices recover from early losses

Stock Market Today

The equity benchmarks shrugged early losses to trade higher on October 30, aided by gains in heavyweight counters like Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

Weak Asian cues and concerns over elevated US bond yields prompted a weak start for the Indian market.

Some bargain buying from lower levels also helped usher in a recovery in the market, which recorded a six-day decline before witnessing a rebound on October 27.

At 11.33 am, the Sensex was up 264.25 points or 0.41 percent at 64,047.05, and the Nifty was up 69.70 points or 0.37 percent at 19,117.00 after sinking to the day's low of 63,431.45 and 18,940.

Gainers outnumbered laggards, which also coincided with the recovery in the market. About 1,681 shares rose, 1,456 fell and 138 remained unchanged.

Follow our live blog for all the market action

"The oversold position in the market facilitated the bounce back in the Nifty. But the conditions are not favourable for the continuation of this uptrend since the risk-off mood persists in the market,"  K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

The risk of the West Asia conflict widening was high and since the ground war invasion of Gaza had begun, there could be lots of uncertainty and unexpected developments, he said.

The other major factor impacting the markets -the elevated US bond yields- will remain a concern since the US Federal is likely to continue its hawkish stance in the light of the resilience of the economy and inflation (3.7 percent) remaining above its target.

"So watch out for the Fed’s message on November 1st even while it holds the rate as the market expects. Investors may remain cautious in this time of high uncertainty and risk. Nibbling at high-quality large-caps will be a smart move," Vijayakumar added.

Stocks and sectors

Topping the list of gainers on the Nifty was Reliance Industries, which jumped over 2 percent on the back of its robust Q2 earnings. The index heavyweight stock also contributed much of the gains for the benchmark indices.

The company's consolidated net profit rose 29.7 percent on year to Rs 19,878 crore in the second quarter despite a dip in revenue from its oil-to-chemicals business. Robust performance of its retail, Jio and upstream businesses drove profit growth.

Revenue for the company grew to Rs 2.55 lakh crore in the quarter as against Rs 2.52 lakh crore last year.

Another major gainer was Cipla, which was up around 2 percent after posting stellar results for Q2. The drugmaker's topline as well as bottomline in Q2 came in well above the Street's estimates while EBITDA margin also expanded to 26 percent against 22.2 percent in the year-ago period. The stellar performance also prompted the management to raise its FY24 margin guidance, for a second time in a row to 24 percent.

On the downside, shares of Maruti Suzuki fell 2.3 percent as profit booking seeped into the counter after it hit a record high in the previous session. Shares of Maruti Suzuki had hit a record high on October 27 after the company recorded its highest ever quarterly revenue in Q2.

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki also achieved a leadership position with the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) segment in Q2, which dented sentiment for rivals Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, pulling then down around 2 percent each.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Disclosure: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.