Sensex falls 140 pts, Nifty below 19,700; Prataap Snacks rises 20%, Balkrishna falls 5%

Domestic equity markets settled slightly lower on Monday, marking the second consecutive day of fall. Benchmark indices gave up the initial gains in the second half of the trading session. The weakness in the autos, metal and FMCG space weighed on the market sentiments.

For the day, BSE's Sensex dropped 139.58 points, or 0.21 per cent, to end at 65,655.15. NSE's Nifty50 shed 37.80 points, or 0.19 per cent, to end the day at 19,694. Broader markets performed mixed as the BSE midcap index settled marginally lower, while the BSE smallcap index rose one-third a per cent. Fear gauge India VIX spiked about 3 per cent to 12.15-mark.
 
Markets started the week on a subdued note and closed almost unchanged.  After the flat start, Nifty oscillated in a narrow range and finally settled at 19,694 levels. Meanwhile, a mixed trend was witnessed on the sectoral front wherein IT posted decent gains while auto and metal ended in the red, said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research at Religare Broking.

"We are seeing a time-wise correction in Nifty so far despite the underperformance of the banking pack. Besides, the pause in the US markets is also capping the move. Amid all, we reiterate our bullish view on the index and suggest continuing with the 'buy on dips' approach.Traders should stick with the performing sectors and utilise this phase to gradually add quality names," he said.

Sectoral trends were mixed. Among the laggards, the Nifty auto led shed about a per cent, followed by the Nifty media index fell half a per cent. The metal and reality index also settled in red. On the contrary, the NIfty IT index gained more than a half per cent, while PSU Bank and healthcare indices also posted mild gains.

In the Nifty50 pack, Adani Enterprises led the losers, falling about 3 per cent, while Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra and SBI Life Insurance Company were down 2 per cent each. Among the gainers, Divis Laboratories and Bharti Airtel rose 2 per cent each. Wipro, HCL Technologies and Coal India added a per cent each.

Elevated long-term interest rate trends and a weakening global economy continue to hurt inflows and market movement. While the recent softening of inflation in the US & India and the negative trend of crude are expected to help the view on global equity and India in the short term, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"In that context, the ease in FIIs selling is helping the domestic markets but continues to consolidate primarily due to India's premium valuation relative to global peers. In this scenario, the IT sector is benefiting; however, valuation continues to be on the higher side compared to long-term history, suggesting a cautious approach in the sector in the medium term," he said.

A total of 3,864 shares were traded on BSE on Friday, of which 2,007 settled with gains. 1,723 stocks ended the session with cuts while 134 shares remained unchanged. During the day, 393 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 164 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day.

In the broader markets, Prataap Snacks and Talbros Automotive Components gained 20 per cent each, while Tata Investments and Goldiam International gained 15 per cent each. SML Isuzu rose 13 per cent, while MOIL ended 12 per cent higher for the day.

Among the laggards, Spandana Sphoorty Financial and Rajesh Exports shed 7 per cent each, while Gujarat Themis Biosyn, HLV, Solar Industries India and Indo Count Industries shed 6 per cent each. Balkrishna Industries, Apollo Micro Systems and SEPC shed 5 per cent each.

Also read: Hot stocks on November 20: Tata Investment, YES Bank, Bank of Baroda, Suzlon Energy and more     

Also read: Aurobindo Pharma, Balrampur Chini among ex-dividend stocks in Top News on November 20: Last day to subscribe to Arrowhead Seperation Engineering IPO, Stock market, Bank Nifty outlook, Q2 Results 

Also read: Stock recommendations for November 20, 2023: Nykaa, IRCTC, Birla Corp and SBI Life

Also read: Tata Tech, IREDA, Fiar & 2 more IPOs to raise Rs 7,400 crore this week; check latest grey market premia