Sensex, Nifty rebound from early jitters; Phoenix Mills rises 6%; Mahindra CIE tanks 5%

Dalal Street kicked off the week on a muted note, in tandem with the Asian peers. Benchmark indices slipped into red before making a recovery in the early few minutes, thanks to a rise in the US stock futures. In the truncated week, all eyes will be set on key economic data.

At 9.20 am, the 30-share pack BSE Sensex was trading flat, falling 25.87 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 57,501.23. NSE's barometer Nifty50 shed 12.40 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 16,932.65. However, they recovered from the early jitters.

Broader markets underperformed the headline peers as BSE midcap and smallcap indices were in the red. Fear gauge India VIX spiked about 4 per cent to 15.81-level.

"We are not too far from the sacrosanct support zone of 16,850-16,800, which coincides with the September month swing low and 89-weekly EMA. We continue to remain hopeful but at the same time for momentum traders, it’s better to wait for some price confirmation once all this negativity subsides on the global as well as domestic front," said Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives at Angel One.

On the higher side, 17200-17250 has been acting as a sturdy wall and the bulls desperately need a convincing breakout beyond this to make a comeback. The volatility is likely to be on the higher side and the apt strategy would be to keep a close eye on global developments and take one step at a time, he said.

The sectoral trends were mixed at the early trade. Nifty Auto index emerged as the top laggard, followed by Nifty Bank index and Nifty FMCG index. On the contrary, Nifty Pharma index rose the most, whereas Nifty realty and Nifty Metal indices also found some strength.

Mahindra & Mahindra topped among the losers in the Nifty50 pack as the stock dropped 2 per cent, Adani Enterprises and Eicher Motors declined more than a per cent each. Titan, Axis Bank, SBI Life and Hero Motocorp were also among the laggards.

On the Contrary, Apollo Hospitals rose about 2 per cent following the positive compliance outlook and rising Covid-19 cases. Power Grid and ONGC added over a per cent each. Dr Reddy's, Hindalco and Divis Labs were among the top gainers during the early trade.

The element of uncertainty in global markets continues. The sharp cut in the European bank index on Friday, despite the assertion by authorities that the European banking system is resilient, is a reflection of the fear in the market. Actions by US authorities have brought near-term stability in the US banking system; but we don’t know what lies ahead, said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"Investors should remain cautious till stability returns. Interest rates in India are likely to decline towards the end 2023 after, perhaps, one more 25 bp rate hike in the next MPC meeting. Declining interest rate scenario is favourable for debt funds," he said.

In the broader markets, Morepen Laboratories surged about 7 per cent after a successful USFDA inspection of API facility at Baddi. The Phoenix Mills gained over 6 per cent after investor/analysts meet. Nahar Polyfilms and Thyrocare Technologies rose 5 per cent, each.

On the contrary, Securekloud Technologies hit a lower circuit of 5 per cent as its promoters were arrested by ED under money laundering allegations. Mahindra CIE Automotive, SEPC and Allcargo Logistics dropped up to 5 per cent, each.

Also read: Crompton Greaves-Butterfly Gandhimathi merger proposal: Here's what Nomura India says

Also read: Coal India, InterGlobe Aviation, GAIL, Triveni Engineering: What analysts say on these 4 stocks