Sensex, Nifty flat in early trade; Texmaco Rail, Restaurant Brands Asia jump up to 11%

Indian equity benchmarks traded almost flat in Monday's early trade as losses in consumer goods and IT stocks countered gains in metals an automobile. The 30-share BSE Sensex edged 50 points or 0.08 per cent to trade at 64,937, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 23 points or 0.12 per cent up to trade at 19,289. Mid- and small-cap shares were slightly positive as Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 0.24 per cent and small-cap gained 0.35 per cent.

Asian markets climbed over 1 per cent after China said it would halve the stamp duty on stock trading in an attempt to boost the struggling market. Wall Street equities ended a volatile session higher on Friday.

Investors now await comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, due later in the day, at a meeting of central bankers at Jackson Hole in Wyoming, for cues on policy tightening.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 4,638 crore on a net basis during the previous session, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,414 crore, according to stock exchange data.

"The global economic scenario and the growth, inflation and interest rate trends in the US will continue to determine stock market trends globally. The Fed chief Jerome Powell's candid remark at Jackson Hole that 'we are navigating by the stars under cloudy skies' is an indicator of the uncertainty surrounding the global economy and markets. However, the Powell commentary was neutral without any market-moving hawkish or dovish tones," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

On the domestic front, investors would be keenly watching for signals from the Reliance Industries (RIL) AGM today, he added.

Nine out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Metal, Nifty Auto, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Pharma were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.55 per cent, 0.45 per cent, 0.29 per cent, 0.25 per cent, respectively. However, Nifty FMCG and Nifty IT slipped 0.23 per cent and 0.36 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Cipla was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock jumped 1.50 per cent to trade at Rs 1,227.50. L&T, Adani Enterprises, BPCL and M&M gained up to 0.99 per cent.

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In contrast, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, Britannia, Bharti Airtel and Nestle India were among the top laggards.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,882 shares were advancing while 1,016 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC Bank, L&T, Reliance, M&M, Tata Steel, Maruti and JSW Steel were among the top gainers.

Also, Texmaco Rail, Restaurant Brands Asia, Rattanindia Enterprises, RattanIndia Power, Jamna Auto, Suzlon Energy and Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar surged up to 11.41 per cent. On the flipside, Jain Irrigation, KRBL, Maharashtra Seamless, CCL Products and Paras Defence slipped up to 3.27 per cent.

On Friday, Sensex had declined 366 points or 0.56 per cent to settle at 64,887, while Nifty had moved 121 points or 0.62 per cent to end the session at 19,266.

Nifty outlook

"The prospects of 19,060-18,900 or even 18,600-18,300, as the downside objectives, were reconfirmed on Friday, with a weekly close below the 50 SMA. But as hoped, the 19,250 did attract upside attempts, despite appearing weak. This presents chances of late recovery in a trend that is on a slippery slope. Upside hopes rest on the ability of 19,170, the 61.8 per cent retracement of the uptrend since June to let bulls regroup. Intermediate support is seen at 18,824, the 38 per cent retracement of larger upmove since March. VIX continue to be benign at 12.08, and below the level we saw when similar lows in Nifty were attempted last week. In other words, though 50 per cent of Nifty 50 have slipped below the 20-SMA, fear factor is still not high enough to warrant a full-blown collapse," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

 

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