Sensex Ends 188 Points Lower, Nifty Below 16,900, Power & IT Stocks Witness Selling
After opening the day on a strong note, Indian share markets swung between gains and losses throughout the session and ended marginally lower.
The market settled lower today, the day of the monthly F&O (derivatives) expiry, as global cues remained unsupportive, tacking a comeback across the global market following the concerns about aggressive policy tightening by major central banks.
Losses in IT stocks were offset by the gains in FMCG stocks and pharma sector. As usual, investors flocked to the best FMCG stocks and best pharma stocks.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 188 points (down 0.3%).
Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed down by 41 points (down 0.2%).
ONGC, Hindalco, and Apollo Hospitals were among the top gainers today.
Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra, and Hero MotoCorp on the other hand, were among the top losers today.
The SGX Nifty was trading at 16,813, lower by 2 points, at the time of writing.
The broader markets ended on a negative note. The BSE Mid Cap index ended lower by 0.5%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended down by 0.4%.
Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the healthcare sector, metal sector, and FMCG sector witnessing buying.
On the other hand, stocks in the power sector, banking sector, and IT sector witnessed selling pressure.
Even the best bank stocks in India were not spared as they ended on a negative note.
Shares of Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Cipla, and Cochin Shipyard hit their 52-week high today.
Outside the home ground, Asian share markets ended on a mixed note.
At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei ended up by 1%, while the Hang Seng was trading lower by 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite stood down by 0.1%.
US stock futures are trading on a negative note with Dow futures trading down by 0.6%.
The rupee is trading at 81.8 against the US$.
Gold prices are currently trading lower by 0.3% at Rs 50,185 per 10 grams.
Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.7% at Rs 56,528 per kg.
Adani Enterprises share price was among the top buzzing stocks today.
The share price of Adani Enterprises jumped 2% intraday after the company achieved financial closure for the 6-lane project.
Adani Enterprises' wholly owned subsidiaries Budaun Hardoi Road Private Ltd (BHRPL), Hardoi Unnao Road Private Ltd (HURPL) and Unnao Prayagraj Road Private Ltd (UPRPL) have achieved financial closure for the six-lane greenfield Ganga Expressway Project in Uttar Pradesh on toll basis under PPP mode.
Despite the volatility the shares of Adani Enterprises have given multibagger returns, rallying 138% in a year.
Shares of Adani Enterprises are trading at a PE ratio of 448.7. Most of the Adani group stocks are overvalued.
Moving on to news from the IT sector, HCL Tech share price was in focus today.
Shares of HCL Tech jumped 2% intraday after HCL group acquired a majority stake in vernacular ed-tech platform GUVI.
Today, IT giant HCL announced its acquisition of vernacular ed-tech platform GUVI, one of the few companies in India to partner with Elon Musk's 'OpenAI' initiative for an undisclosed sum.
Commenting on it, Director of HCL Corporation, Shikhar Malhotra said,
- We are delighted to associate with GUVI to ensure that technology aspirants have ease of access to learning and upskilling via holistic courses in the native language they are comfortable conversing in. Through this investment, the aim is to address the critical technical skill gap across enterprises.
The IIT Madras and CIIE incubated startup offers technical courses such as web development, AI module, SQL and various other courses created by industry experts in vernacular languages.
Till now, GUVI has upskilled more than 1.7 million students and professionals in the latest technology skills and helped them gain placement across sectors.
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Disclosure: Equitymaster Agora Research Private Limited (Research Analyst) bearing Registration No. INH000000537 (hereinafter referred as 'Equitymaster') is an independent equity research ...
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