Sensex slips below 72,000; Nifty shed 76 pts; Eicher Motor falls 4%, VST gains 20%

Domestic equity markets ended the second session of 2024 on a weaker note as the headline indices were dragged lower by the global concerns. Giving up the initial gain, benchmark indices spent most of the session in red tracking the weak economic cues from China and prevailing geopolitical tensions in the Red Sea.

For the day, BSE's Sensex dropped 379.46 points, or 0.53 per cent, to settle at 71,892.48. NSE's Nifty50 shed 76.10 points, or 0.35 per cent, to end the day at 21,665.80. Broader markets outperformed the headline peers as BSE midcap and smallcap indices settled flat, marginally lower. Fear gauge shed more than a half-a-per cent to 14.58-mark.

Markets traded volatile for yet another session and lost nearly half a percent, in continuation to the prevailing consolidation phase. The beginning was subdued and pressure in the banking, auto and IT majors was weighing on the sentiment however resilience in the pharma and energy majors capped the damage, said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research at Religare Broking.

"The underperformance of the banking majors is largely weighing on the sentiment amid consolidation and a decisive close above 21,800 in Nifty would prompt the next leg of the up move. Meanwhile, we feel it is prudent to prefer defensive viz. FMCG, pharma and stay selective in others," he said.

On a sectoral front, the Nifty Auto, IT, private bank and realty indices dropped more than a per cent each. Nifty Financial Services and PSU bank indices were the other laggards. Among the gainers, the Nifty pharma index rose about 2.5 per cent, while the Nifty healthcare index gained about 2 per cent for the day.

In the Nifty50 pack, Eicher Motors tumbled more than 3.5 per cent, while Mahindra & Mahindra , Ultratech Cement and Larsen & Toubro shed 2.5 per cent each. Among the gainers, Divis Laboratories, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Coal India gained about 3 per cent each for the day.

The market extended yesterday’s last hour’s sell-off, taking negative cues from Asian peers due to weak Chinese manufacturing data and mounting tensions in the Red Sea, which has the potential to disrupt global trade and crude supplies, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"Ahead of the impending results season, investors are adopting a profit booking strategy. Auto stocks declined on below-expected volume numbers, while pharma stocks were the standout due to catch-up in the US economy," he added.

A total of 3,929 shares were traded on BSE on Tuesday, of which 1,996 settled with gains. 1,809 stocks ended the session with cuts while 124 shares remained unchanged. During the day, 390 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 161 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day.

In the broader markets, VST Industries and Alok Textiles hit an upper circuit of 20 per cent each, while Meghmani Organics gained about 16 per cent. Sigachi Industries rallied more than 15 per cent, while SH Kelkar and Company rose 13 per cent for the day. Tasty Bite Eatables and Subros ended 12 per cent higher each.

Among the laggards, Vodafone Idea fell about 6 per cent, while Kamdhenu dropped more than 5 per cent. NCL India, Tourism Finance Corporation of India, TeamLease Services, Eicher Motors and Lodha Developers and 360 One WAM tumbled 4 per cent each for the day.

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