The benchmark Sensex and Nifty took a breather after a sharp fall in the previous session and traded flat as of afternoon trade on December 21. The buying from lower levels also helped the benchmarks recoup their early losses after a gap-down open.
The broader market also bounced back for the sharp sell-off seen in the previous session, with smallcaps and midcaps glistening in the green.
Around noon, the Sensex was up 94.10 points or 0.13 percent at 70,600.41, and the Nifty was up 35.80 points or 0.17 percent at 21,186.00. Meanwhile, gains across the broader market helped gainers outnumber laggards. About 2,232 shares rose, 941 fell while 78 remained unchanged.
Within the broader market, the Nifty Smallcap 100 rose over 1 percent while the Nifty Midcap 100 index was up 0.7 percent.
Sectoral trends
The information technology sector continued to witness buying action despite concerns of a slower recovery in the macro environment, as warned by Accenture's management. Aside from IT, other sectors like automobile, pharma, energy, metals, infra, oil and gas and power traded in the green.
On the contrary, some banking names witnessed profit booking which pulled the Nifty Bank index into the red. Along with that, the realty index also traded with cuts.
Fundamental view
"Nifty's upward momentum stalled due to a lack of sustained buying, substantial profit booking, and excessively overbought technical conditions. Pessimism was fueled by concerns over rising Covid-19 cases, particularly the JN.1 sub-variant in India," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.
"We will see time-to-time profit booking taking place for the next 10 days as institutional buying takes a step back ahead of the holiday season," said Deven Choksey, Managing Director at KRChoksey Holdings.
Technical view
"Technical charts suggest that after reaching an all-time high, the Nifty formed a large bearish candle at the top, indicating a potential correction in the near future. Nifty may find support at 20,900, followed by 20,800. On the upside, 21,350 could serve as immediate resistance, followed by 21,500," said Mandar Bhojane, research analyst, Choice Broking.
As for the the Bank Nifty index, Bhojane anticipates the index to find support at 47,000, followed by 46,800. "On the upside, 47,900 could serve as immediate resistance, followed by 48,200," he added.
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Key Nifty gainers
Britannia, HDFC Bank, Power Grid Corporation, Apollo Hospitals, LTIMindtree
Key Nifty losers
Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, SBI Life, Bajaj Auto
Key Sensex gainers
Power Grid Corporation, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries
Key Sensex losers
Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank
Stock moves
Inox India: Shares listed on the exchanges at a premium of 44 percent at Rs 950 as against the IPO price of Rs 660. Some profit booking also seeped into the counter following its strong debut, pulling the stock slightly off its highs.
Ami Organics: Shares were down over 2 percent after a block deal worth Rs 475.2 crore took place on the exchanges. Around 46 lakh shares, representing a 12.5 percent equity in the company changed hands at a floor price of Rs 1,031 apiece. CNBC-TV18 reported that ex-promoters of the company, now classified as public shareholders were the sellers in the transaction.
Tarsons Products: Shares surged nearly 7 percent after the company announced that its subsidiary entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire Nerbe R&D GmbH and Nerbe plus.
Also Read | Sensex, Nifty extend muted moves to day 2; more 'profit-booking' likely ahead of holiday season: Analysts
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