Stock market closing: Nifty, Sensex close the day in red, IT, Media gain major ground

Both Nifty and Sensex closed the day in red, with Nifty closing at 24,123.85 points, down by 18.1 points or 0.07%, while Sensex closed the day at 79,441.45 points, down by 0.04%. As for broad market indices, except for Nifty microcap 250, which inched up 0.19% before the day's closing, all other indices were in red at the close of trade today. Nifty midcap 50 shed 0.81%, and smallcap 100 lost 0.45%.

As for sectoral indices, IT (up by 1.17%) and Media (up by 1.05%) gained during the day, while FMCG (down by 0.85%) and PSU bank (down by 1.81%) closed the day in red. Out of the 2,737 stocks traded during the day, 1,372 saw advances, while 1,282 declined during the day. About 231 stocks hit their 52-week high price, while 15 others hit their 52-week low. 165 stocks hit the upper circuit during the day's trading, while 49 hit the lower circuit.

Larsen and Toubro (up by 2.73%), Wipro (up by 2.09%), Infosys (up by 1.84%), Tata Consumers (up by 1.41%) and HDFC bank (up by 1.34%) were amongst the top gainers during the day. On the other hand, Shri Ram Finance (down by 2.95%), Kotak Bank (down by 2.49%), Bharti Airtel (down by 2.40%), Tata Motors (down by 1.95%) and IndusInd bank (down by 1.78%) lost significant ground during the day.

In a release today, US based investment research firm Hindenberg, which has been served a notice by SEBI regarding its Adani report, highlighted that Kotak Bank created and "oversaw the offshore fund structure used by our investor partner to bet against Adani. However, the show-cause notice simply named the K-India Opportunities fund and masked the 'Kotak' name with the acronym 'KMIL',” Hindenburg said.

In response, Kotak issued a clarification, stating that "Hindenburg has never been a client of the firm nor has it ever been an investor in the Fund. The Fund was never aware that Hindenburg was a partner of any of its investors. KMIL has also received a confirmation and declaration from the Fund’s investor that its investments were made as a principal and not on behalf of any other person.“

According to Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities, "today, the benchmark indices witnessed profit booking at higher levels. Among Sectors, IT index outperformed, rallied over 1% whereas PSU Bank index lost the most, shedding 1.8%. In addition, small bearish candle on daily charts and temporary overbought conditions on intraday charts indicate strong possibility of one quick intraday correction from the current levels".

However, the medium term texture of the market is still in to the positive side. For the day traders now, 24,200/79,700 would be the immediate resistance zone. Below the same, the market could retest the level of 24,000-23,950/79,100-79,000", he continued.

As Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Shares notes, "the markets began the session at yet another record level of 24,230 but a fall in the mid and smallcap segments dragged the index lower to remain rangebound for the rest of the day. With a loss of 18.10 points, Nifty50 settled the trade at 24,123.85. Among the sectors, the IT sector was the top gainer followed by media; and on the flip side, PSU Banks and FMCG were the major laggards. Mid and smallcaps corrected by 0.78% and 0.45% and underperformed the frontline index. Nothing has changed as the strong uptrend is intact and buying on dips will be an ideal strategy. The downside seems to be protected at a psychological support of 24,000 while 24,230 will be an immediate resistance".

Mr. Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd highlights that "the markets experienced volatility and closed nearly unchanged, reflecting mixed cues. Following an initial rise, the Nifty index drifted lower and remained range-bound, ultimately closing at 24,123.85. Currently, the index is consolidating with a positive bias, and we expect this trend to continue. If there is any decline, the Nifty has support around the 23,800-24,000 zone. Amid these conditions, traders should focus on selecting quality stocks and use this phase to accumulate them".