Sensex, Nifty post marginal gains; MRPL surges 20%; Polycab tanks 21%

Domestic equity markets extended their gains to the second session but managed to post marginal gains for Thursday's session. Headline indices gave up initial gains for a brief period but rebound sharply ahead of US inflation numbers due later today. Traders keenly await earnings for Q3 by TCS and Infosys.
 
For the day, BSE's Sensex added 63.47 points, or 0.09 per cent, to settle at 71,721.18. NSE's Nifty50 gained 28.50 points, or 0.13 per cent, to end the day at 21,647.20. Broader markets outperformed the headline peers as the BSE midcap and smallcap indices managed to rise up to two-third to three-fourth a per cent. Fear gauge drooped more than 1.20 per cent to 12.83-mark.

Markets traded dull and settled almost unchanged, in continuation to the prevailing consolidation phase. After the initial uptick, Nifty slipped gradually lower however recovery in the select index majors pared the losses in the final hour, said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research at Religare Broking

"Nifty has been hovering in a range for almost two weeks now and a mixed trend in index majors is not offering any clear signal over the next directional move. We feel participants should prefer hedged positions, with the beginning of the earnings season and wait for clarity," he said.

On a sectoral front, the Nifty oil & gas index gained 1.5 per cent, while the Nifty consumer durable and auto index rose more than a per cent each for the day. Among the laggards, the Nifty IT and media indices were leaders, while the Nifty metal, pharma, FMCG and realty also settled in red.

In the Nifty50 pack, Hero MotoCorp surged 4.65 per cent, while Bajaj Auto surged more than 3.4 per cent. Reliance Industries rose 2.5 per cent. Bharat Petroleum and Axis Bank rose 2 per cent each for the day. On the contrary, Hindustan Unilever, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and SBI Life shed 1.5 per cent each, while Wirpo, Larsen & Toubro and Sun Pharma were down a per cent each.

In anticipation of inflation data from the US, the Indian market exhibited range-bound trade. Though investors anticipate US inflation to ease, global markets, expecting a CY24 interest rate cut, have already priced in optimism, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

"Profit booking occurred amid moderating Q3 corporate earnings and concerns about premium valuations. Selling pressure on IT stocks stemmed from weak earnings estimates," he said.

A total of 3,937 shares were traded on BSE on Thursday, of which 2,355 settled with gains. 1,475 stocks ended the session with cuts while 107 shares remained unchanged. During the day, only nine shares hit their upper circuit, whereas merely four shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day.

In the broader markets, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals surged 20 per cent, while Easy Trip Planners rose about 17 per cent. Engineers India and Network18 Media & Investments rose 10 per cent each. Among the laggards, Polycab India tankes 21 per cent tax evasion allegations. Astrazeneca India was down 6 per cent, while KEI Industries was down over 5 per cent.

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