It was a volatile day at the stock market on Monday with the benchmark indices touching record highs during the morning session before profit booking led to the Sensex closing lower by nearly 1%, while the broader Nifty lost a little over 1%
On Monday, the 30-share Sensex gained 329 points in the morning session to touch a new intraday record high of 42,273.87. Profit booking, however, saw the barometer ending the day at 41,528.91, down 416.46, or 0.99%. The broader Nifty closed at 12,224.55, down 127.80 points or 1.03%. Earlier in the day, it touched a high of 12,430.50.
“Markets fell sharply today after touching new high in the early part of the session led by profit booking,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head, Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
“Poor quarterly results announced by some heavyweights like Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, TCS and Kotak Bank dampened market sentiment. It was further hurt due to the 1% rise in oil prices on account of supply concerns,” he added.
Blue-chip names such as ICICI Securities, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hindustan Zinc, Federal Bank, Can Fin Homes, Bank of Maharashtra and Just Dial, among others, declared their results.
Kotak Mahindra Bank was the worst performer in the Sensex pack, shedding 4.7% to close at ₹1,618.05. The bank reported lower-than-expected loan growth even as non-performing assets rose. Reliance Industries, NTPC, ONGC and TCS too saw their shares falling over 2% each.
The overall market breadth was extremely weak with more than 1,600 stocks ending in the red, as against only 931 gainers.
Market experts believe that with more companies scheduled to announce their quarterly numbers in the coming days, one could see more stock specific action even as budget expectations start building up.
