Stock market closing: Sensex, Nifty register muted gains to close the day in red, ONGC, Hero Moto top gainers

Both indices, Sensex and Nifty ended the day with marginal dips, with Sensex closing at 79,670.66 points, down by about 35 points. On the other hand, Nifty ended on 24,345.85, down by 0.09% on August 12, 2024.

ONGC (up by 2.59%), Hero Moto Corp (up by 2.15%), Axis Bank (up by 1.80%), JSW Steel (up by 1.53%) and Divis Labs (up by 1.46%) were amidst the top gainers of the day. On the other hand, Adani Ports (down by 2.33%), NTPC (down by 2.16%), Dr Reddy (down by 1.76%), Britannia (down by 1.59%) and Adani Entertainments (down by 1.46%) were amidst the leading laggards.

Out of the 2,833 stocks traded during the day, 1,351 saw advances and 1,414 stocks saw declines. Another 68 stocks remained unchanged. 140 stocks hit their 52-week high price, while 28 stocks hit their 52-week low as well. 138 stocks hit the upper circuit during the day, and another 90 stocks remained in the lower circuit during trading today.

Most midcap and small cap market indices managed to inch up marginal gains, with the exception of India VIX, which rose by 3.47%. Media dipped by over 2% today, while PSU bank lost over 1%. Realty indices inched up over 1% to close the day in green.

Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Shares noted that Indian markets started the session on a tepid note followed by a steep recovery. After a rangebound mid-session, a sudden fall in the last session dragged the Index lower to end the session at 24,347.00 with a loss of 20.50 points.

"Realty was the top gainer among the sectors followed by Metal; and on the flip side, Media and PSU Banks were the major laggards. Mid and small caps held their recovery gains and outperformed the frontline index. After testing the higher end of a consolidation, the Index has formed a Long Legged DOJI candlestick pattern. A firm close above the 24,450-24,470 zone is a must to resume its uptrend while the lower side seems to be protected at 24,200", he continued.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities highlighted that today, the benchmark indices witnessed volatile trading session, the Nifty ends 21 points lower while the Sensex was down by 57 points. Among sectors, reality index outperformed rallied over 1.35% whereas media index shed nearly 2%. Technically, after early morning intraday selloff the market took the support near 24,200/79,200 and bounce back sharply. However, it failed to close above 24,400/79,850 resistance zone.

"We are of the view that, the current intraday market texture is non-directional hence level based trading would be the ideal strategy for the day traders. For the bulls, 24,400/79,850 would be immediate breakout zone. Above the same, market could move up to 24,500-24,550/80,100-80,400. On the flip side, below 24,300/79,500 the sentiment could change. Below the same market could retest the level of 24,200-24,170/79,200-79,000", he continued.