Closing Bell: Sensex pares losses, ends down 360 pts lower, Nifty below 21,400; IT, FMCG see selling

Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking:

Markets resumed decline and shed nearly half a percent amid mixed cues. After the weak start, buying in select heavyweights triggered some rebound in the middle however continued pressure in the private banking majors capped upside. Eventually, Nifty settled at 21352 levels; down by 0.47%. Meanwhile, a mixed trend continued on the sectoral front wherein energy and realty edged higher while IT, pharma and FMCG witnessed profit taking. The broader indices also witnessed varied moves, with midcap in red and smallcap gaining over half a percent.

The prevailing pressure in banking majors is largely weighing on the sentiments however selective buying in others is capping the damage so far. This diverging trend indicates further consolidation in the index so traders should stay focused on stock selection and trade management until we see some clarity.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities:

Market is witnessing a lot of volatility ahead of the Budget with a negative bias as investors further booked profits to cut down their long positions on the expiry day. Continuous outflows of foreign funds from the domestic equity market has been denting the sentiment over the past one week as they have net sold local shares worth more than Rs 33,000 crore in January so far. A rise in US bond yields coupled with mixed Q3 earnings so far and uptick in international crude oil prices due to simmering tensions in West Asia has been making investors jittery about the near term prospects.

On the technical front, with the immediate resistance being at 21,400 mark, we expect the market to go down further towards 21,100 and 21,000 eventually, and if it breaks 21000 level we can witness more selling pressure up to 20900-20500 levels. Any trend change would happen only once the Nifty surpasses the 21,500 mark.

Closing Bell: Sensex pares losses, ends down 360 pts lower, Nifty below 21,400; IT, FMCG see selling

Bears dominated Dalal Street on January 25 as frontline indices Sensex and Nifty erased their gains from the previous session, dragged by banking, FMCG and IT stocks. At close, the Sensex was down 359.64 points or 0.51 percent at 70,700.67, and the Nifty was down 101.40 points or 0.47 percent at 21,352.60. About 1813 shares advanced, 1423 shares declined, and 55 shares unchanged.

In the broader markets, the midcap indices corrected along with the benchmarks but the smallcap indices outperformed, with Nifty Smallcap closing higher by 0.5 percent. All of the sectoral indices, barring Nifty Realty, were trading in the red. The financial services, pharma, bank, IT, FMCG and Healthcare index all settled lower by over one percent.

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