The equity benchmarks ended lower for the third straight day on January 18 despite a mid-session pull-back with banks and IT stocks coming under selling pressure amid weak global cues.
At close, the Sensex was down 313.90 points or 0.44 percent at 71,186.86, and the Nifty was down 109.70 points or 0.51 percent at 21,462.30.
Also Read - Sensex, Nifty caught in the red for 3rd day as heavyweight HDFC Bank slides
The market opened lower, mirroring global peers, and extended the sell-off in the initial hours. It pulled back sharply around noon but failed to build on it and came under pressure again. It, however, did manage to close off the day’s low.
Stocks and sectors
Top losers on the Nifty included LTIMindtree, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Titan Company and Asian Paints, while gainers were Sun Pharma, Cipla, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors and Axis Bank.
Among sectors, bank, FMCG, IT, metal and power closed 0.3-1 percent down. Auto, capital goods, healthcare, oil & gas and realty were up 0.3-0.7 percent.
BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended flat.
A long build-up was seen in Oracle Financial Services Software, ONGC and Infosys, while a short build-up was seen in Indian Energy Exchange, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company and HDFC Bank.
Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 2,500 percent was seen in Balrampur Chini Mills, Oracle Financial Services Software and India Cements.
Ajmera Realty, Apollo Tyres, Bank of Maharashtra, Dynamatic Technologies, EIH Associated Hotel, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Lupin, Mahanagar Gas, Oil India, Oracle Financial Services Software, PCBL, Prataap Snacks, Quick Heal Technlogies, Sobha, Torrent Pharma, Vaibhav Global, Vascon Engineers, Welspun Corp touched their 52-week high on the BSE. Click here for the full list
Outlook for January 19
Jatin Gedia – Technical Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas:
The Nifty opened the gap down and witnessed a volatile day of trade. It witnessed wild swings in both directions and the Nifty ultimately closed in the negative down ~110 points. On the upside, the counter-trend pullback can extend till 21600 – 21650 where resistance in the form of the 20-day moving average is placed. In terms of levels, 21550 – 21570 is the immediate hurdle zone while 21350 – 21300 is the crucial support zone.
Bank Nifty has reached the 161.82% Fibonacci extension level 45768 which also coincides with the 20-week moving average making the zone of 45800 – 45600 a crucial support zone and until this is not breached on the downside we can expect the recovery to continue. On the upside, the pullback can come till 46400 – 46600.
Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking
Markets extended fall and lost half a percent amid volatility. After the gap-down opening, Nifty tried to pare losses but continued fall in HDFC Bank and fresh decline in select heavyweights capped the recovery. Meanwhile, energy, banking and metal were among the top losers on the sectoral front while pharma and realty showed some strength. The broader indices also managed to end unchanged after a volatile swing.
Nifty couldn’t defend the short term moving average i.e. 20 EMA on the expected lines and came closer to the next crucial support of 21,200 level. Indications are now in favor of some consolidation after the recent fall and any rebound to 21,700-21,850 would attract fresh shorts. We thus reiterate our view to reduce positions on the rise and wait for some stability in the trend.
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