Sensex, Nifty slip for the second day amid weak global cues; IT stocks outperform

Markets Drift Lower as Profit-Booking Sets In

Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty slipped for the second straight session on November 19 amid weak global cues. Profit-booking was visible across most counters as the broader market moved into negative territory and the Q2 earnings season drew to a close.

Around morning, the Sensex was down 3.60 points or 0.00 percent at 84,669.42, while the Nifty was lower by 6.30 points or 0.02 percent at 25,903.75. Around 1,294 shares advanced, 1,483 declined, and 163 remained unchanged.

The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices also eased, slipping up to 0.3 percent. However, India VIX continued to cool off, signalling an absence of investor nervousness.

IT and FMCG stocks offered some support and helped lift sentiment in an otherwise lacklustre market, whereas metal, pharma, and realty stocks remained under pressure in early trade.

Among individual gainers, TCS topped the Nifty 50 list after securing a five-year contract to modernise core business systems and upgrade cloud infrastructure for the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS).

Max Healthcare shares were also among the top Nifty 50 performers after the company unveiled a major expansion plan to add more than 8,300 hospital beds to its network, along with reporting a steady Q2 performance.

Looking ahead, a selective buy-on-dips approach remains suitable — with tight trailing stop-losses and partial profit-booking on rallies. Fresh long positions should be taken only once the Nifty convincingly crosses 26,100, while keeping a close watch on global factors and technical indicators, said Hitesh Tailor, research analyst at Choice Broking.

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