Stock markets opened higher on Thursday, although trading remained mixed throughout the day. After the morning surge, the benchmark indices traded at almost flat levels, coming off their intraday highs. Although the market managed to register a slight gain in the afternoon trade, by the time the market closed, the Sensex fell 114 points to close at 77,844, while the Nifty 50 was trading almost flat at 24,326 points. However, broader market indexes showed strength; Nifty MidSelect gained around 1.67%, while the Smallcap index also gained around 0.87%. Supported by banking sector shares, Nifty Bank also closed with marginal gains at 56,047 points.
Which were the biggest gainers and biggest losers of the day?
All components of the Nifty 50 remained under pressure, with stocks like HUL, TCS, Tech Mahindra and Titan witnessing weakness. On the contrary, stocks like HDFC Life, M&M, Grasim and NTPC witnessed strong buying and emerged as the top gainers from the index.
Investors also had an eye on those stocks which were announcing their quarterly results. Shares of Craftsman Automation, Paytm, Bharat Forge and Seagull India were in the news due to their financial results. Apart from this, stocks like Asiana Housing, TD Power Systems, IIFL Capital Services and Allied Blenders & Distillers remained in headlines due to certain news and developments.
A lot of activity was also seen in the automotive sector, in which buying trend was seen in stocks like Bosch, Exide Industries, Tube Investments and Hero MotoCorp. At the same time, there was a strong rise in defense stocks, in which Paras Defence, Astra Microwave, DCX Systems and MTAR Tech were at the forefront. The biggest losers of the day included Wockhardt, Himadri Specialty Chemical, Birlasoft and Firstsource Solutions. On the contrary, Godrej Industries, Tejas Networks, Piramal Pharma and BEML posted strong gains and made their place among the best performing stocks of the market. During intraday trading, Nifty hit a two-week high. Resistance still remains at the level of 24,400 points. Some profit taking is being seen from these higher levels. For now, 24,300 will act as an important closing level. Nifty Bank also touched a one-week high. Right now trading is happening in a limited range. The index is trading close to its 50-day moving average (55,950). 56,000 is an important closing level.
