Closing Bell: Nifty ends near 17,000, Sensex falls 390 pts; bank, power, realty drag

The Bank Nifty index witnessed some selling pressure on the higher end and faces stiff resistance around the 39,500-40,000 level where aggressive call writing has been seen. The index remains in a downtrend with lower high and lower low formations intact.

The index if breaches below 38,400 on a closing basis will lead to further sell-off towards 38,000-37,500 levels. The immediate upside resistance is placed at 39,000 and if breached will see some short covering moves.

Markets continued to witness a tumultuous ride as weak Asian cues came as a dampener although positive European markets helped temper the fall. The gloomy mood due to global economic uncertainty has precipitated the fall in recent sessions.

Banking stocks bore the brunt of the overall pessimism on concerns rising interest rate regime could hit demand for loans.

The Nifty is consistently taking support near the 200-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) or 16950 while facing strong resistance at 17150. A sharp correction wave is possible if the index trades below 16950 and on further decline, it could slip till 16800-16700.

Retail inflation persisting above the desired levels has been a major cause of concern for the Indian economy. This, coupled with declining industrial production in August may not be taken well by the market because Indian economy is anticipated to sustain its resilience.

In this backdrop, the impending US inflation figures, which are forecasted to remain high, may cause volatility in the global market.

Indian benchmark indices ended on negative note on October 13 amid volatility.

At Close, the Sensex was down 390.58 points or 0.68% at 57,235.33, and the Nifty was down 109.30 points or 0.64% at 17,014.30. About 1283 shares have advanced, 2054 shares declined, and 130 shares are unchanged.

Wipro, Adani Ports, SBI, SBI Life Insurance and L&T were among the top Nifty losers. HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, Coal India, Britannia and Tata Motors were the top gainers.

Barring metal and healthcare, all other sectoral indices ended in the red.

BSE Midcap index and Smallcap indices fell 0.5 percent each.

Indian rupee closed marginally lower at 82.35 per dollar against previous close of 82.31.

The Indian rupee traded an extremely narrow range for the second day ahead of US consumer inflation data to gauge the next leg of direction.

The pair dropped to a record low of 82.68 on Monday but recovered slightly after RBI intervention. The focus now shifts to the US inflation data due later in the day. The pair could trigger major gap-up or gap-down if there is a major change in US data.

Broking firm Nomura has a ‘neutral’ call on Wipro with a target price of Rs 380.

Investors need to brace for near-term weakness as margin recovery is likely to be gradual.

Guidance for Q3 is disappointing and alludes to slowdown. We cut FY23-24 EPS (earnings per share) estimates by 3-5 percent.

Wipro touched a 52-week low of Rs 378.10 and was quoting at Rs 379.25, down Rs 28.50, or 6.99 percent.

The board of directors of the company, considered and approved, to issue upto 1,01,00,070 warrants each convertible into, or exchangeable for, one equity share at a price of Rs 183.30 each (including the warrant subscription price and the warrant exercise price) aggregating upto Rs 185,13,42,831 to Mr. Karunakar Reddy Baddam, Promoter and Managing Director of the Company and to certain
other non-promoter group persons.

Apollo Micro Systems touched a 52-week high of Rs 223.45 and was quoting at Rs 217.50, up Rs 18.65, or 9.38 percent on the BSE.

JPMorgan keptunderweight call on the stock with a target price of Rs 360.

Weak momentum for Q3 with margin pressures persisting as environment worsens. We remain Underweight as we continue to expect margin and revenue headwinds.

Retail inflation will trend a tad below the 6% mark by February/March: Morgan Stanley

"We expect CPI inflation to average 6.5% in FY2023"... Read More