FINAL TRADE: Benchmark indices settle in the red; Sensex at 66,160.2; Nifty at 19,646.05

Stock market today: The domestic share market on Friday (July 28) ended lower amid selling in auto, financial services, and IT stocks. At close, the Nifty 50 was down 13.85 points at 19,646.05, and the Sensex settled at 66,160.2, down 106.62 points. 

"Nifty closed on a muted note with negative bias. Most of the indices closed in green whereas Nifty Energy outperformed on the back of a good number reported by NTPC. The primary market is witnessing good traction as the market is at all-time high levels. Investors responded well to Yatharth Hospital & Trauma Care Services' initial public offering (IPO) on July 28, the last day of bidding, applying for 47.41 crore equity shares vs the issue size of 1.65 crore shares, purchasing 28.70 times the amount offered. NTPC, Power Grid Corporation, Apollo Hospitals, Adani Enterprises and M&M were the top gainer while HDFC Bank, BPCL, Tata Motors and HCL Technologies were the top losers on the Nifty," said Vaibhav Vidwani, Sr. Research Analyst, BONANZA PORTFOLIO LTD.

Technical View 

"The Nifty opened on a flat note and witnessed volatile price action. It drifted lower during the first half and witnessed a sharp recovery towards the close which helped it to close off the intraday lows though down 14 points. On the daily charts, we can observe that the Nifty has closed in the negative for the second consecutive day. It has been trading in a downward-sloping channel and we expect it to consolidate within this channel. It can witness a bounce towards the key hourly moving averages placed in the range 19690 – 19720 from where we expect the selling pressure to resume. On the weekly charts, the Nifty has closed in the negative after rising for four consecutive weeks and which also suggests that the Nifty can consolidate. The momentum indicator has a negative crossover which is a sell signal and thus the pullbacks shall be difficult to sustain. Overall, the short-term outlook remains range bound between 19500 – 20000. Crucial support levels to keep handy are 19540 - 19500 and on the upside, 1970- 19720 is the immediate hurdle zone," said Jatin Gedia – Technical Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Broader market

Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 both opened in green. Nifty Midcap closed at 37,357.15 and Smallcap 100 at 11,600.3.

"Bank Nifty opened the gap down and closed and witnessed a weak closing. Though it witnessed a pullback during the last hour of the session, however, the structure still points towards a short-term consolidation. On the weekly chart as well we can observe that the Bank Nifty traded within the range 44700 – 46370 of the penultimate week and thus formed an Inside Bar pattern which makes the extremes of the range crucial levels to watch out for in the short term. A breach of this range on either side shall lead to a move in that direction. Overall, we expect the bank Nifty to consolidate between 46500 – 45000, said Gedia.

Sectoral watch

Nifty Bank settled lower by 0.46 per cent lower at 45,468.10. On the sectoral front, while Nifty FMCG, Metal, and Realty gave support to the headline index, Nifty IT and Financial Services dragged the index. 

Buzzing stocks 

Intellect Design Arena ended 20 per cent higher touching the upper circuit post results. Ajanta Pharma closed over 4 per cent higher post results, Birlasoft Tech stock settled over 3 per cent higher post results, and M&M Financial Services ended nearly 4 per cent higher post results.

Conversely, Dr. Lal PathLabs was down over 4 per cent post results, Supreme Industries was down over 7 per cent post results, JK Lakshmi Cement closed over 7 per cent lower post results and Blue Dart Express ended over 4 per cent lower. 

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