Stock market closing: Auto, IT, Media sectors close in red, Asian Paints, SBI Life amongst top gainers

Both indices Sensex and Nifty saw significant falls from their previous record highs to close the day in red. While Nifty closed at 24,321.25 points, down by 111.95 points (0.46%), Sensex tumbled around 426.87 points to close at 79,924.77 points, down by 0.53%.

Asian Paints (up by 3.29%), SBI Life (up by 2.18%), Divis Labs (up by 1.91%), Britannia (up by 1.57%) and Grasim (up by 1.37%) were amongst the day's top gainers. On the other hand, Mahindra and Mahindra (down by 6.82%), Hindalco (down by 2.33%), Tata Steel (down by 2.22%), TCS (down by 1.70%) and HCL Tech (down by 1.48%) were amongst the day's laggards.

Amongst broad market indices, only Nifty Next 50 (up by 0.05%) and India VIX (up by 0.66%) closed the day in green. In sectoral indices, financial services (up by 0.20%), FMCG (up by 0.28%), pharma (up by 0.39%), healthcare (up by 0.38%) and oil and gas (up by 0.05%) ended the trading session in green. Most sectors were in red, with sectors like IT (down by 1.03%), media (down by 1.76%), metal (down by 1.61%), auto (down by 2.02%) and PSU Bank (down by 1.4%) losing over 1%.

As Mr. Aditya Gaggar Director of Progressive Shares notes, "in the opening trade, a steep fall was observed in the mid and smallcap segments, putting pressure on the index to trade lower with a loss of over 200 points. As the day progressed, the markets gradually started to recuperate their losses and finally settled the trade at 24,324.45 with a loss of 108.75 points".

"On a sectoral front, pharma was the top gainer followed by FMCG; and on the flip side, auto was the major laggard by ending the day with a loss of 2.02%. The media and metal sectors underperformed as well. Broader markets also recovered from the lower levels where midcap more or less moved in tandem with the frontline index while small caps underperformed. On the daily chart, the Index has made a bearish engulfing candlestick pattern at the record levels which indicates a potential reversal of the trend. A convincing move below 24,200 will confirm a short-term trend reversal, but till then uptrend will remain intact. On the other hand, a level of 24,460 will be considered an immediate hurdle", he continued.

Out of the 2,805 stocks traded during the day, 897 saw advances, while 1,833 declined and 75 stocks remained unchanged. 145 stocks hit their 52-week high, while 18 stocks also touched their 52-week low price. 70 stocks managed to remain in upper circuit, while 123 stocks also hit the lower circuit.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities notes that the benchmark indices today witnessed profit booking at higher levels. On daily charts, the index has formed a bearish candle, which indicates that this weak sentiment is likely to continue in the near future.

"We are of the view that, today’s day low or 24,150/79,400 would act as a key support zone for the day traders. If the index succeeds to trade above the same, then it could retest the level of 24,450/80,500. Further upside may also continue which could lift the index till 24,500-24,550/80,700-80,900. On the flip side, below 24,150/79,400 selling pressure is likely to accelerate.", he said.

According to Mr. Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, "the intraday slide in the index has slightly dented sentiment, but resilience in certain pockets limited the damage. We believe it is prudent to refrain from aggressive long positions in the index for now and wait for further clarity. Additionally, we have started seeing erratic swings across the board, which are likely to intensify with the start of the earnings season. Traders should prefer a hedged approach and closely monitor their position sizes".