Market settles lower for 3rd day dragged by IT stocks; metals pare gains

The headline indices remained in a tight range till the end of Wednesday's session (April 19, 2023) with some stock-specific action being witnessed in a few pockets. At close, the S&P BSE Sensex stood at 59,567.80 levels, down 159 points, or 0.21 per cent, while the NSE's Nifty ended at 17,612.25, down 48 points, or 0.27 per cent. With today's fall, domestic equities have ended in the red for three consecutive sessions.

Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech and ICICI Bank were the top contributors to Sensex's fall. Of 30 stocks, 21 ended in the red and the rest 9 in the green. Axis Bank (up over 1 per cent) was the top gainer while HCL Tech (down over 2 per cent) was the biggest laggard. The fear gauge, India VIX, stood at 12.15 levels, up 0.64 per cent.

"Nifty fell for the third consecutive session on April 19 pulled down by mixed global cues. Global stocks dropped in cautious trade on Wednesday, as expectations for an imminent peak in the Federal Reserve's interest rate cycle edged ahead of U.S. banking sector concerns. Sentiment remained muted ahead of the release of the Fed's Beige book which would provide glimpses into the economic landscape in the US. A sticky inflation print in the UK brought price pressures back to the fore," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

Jasani added that the 50-share index fell for the third consecutive session but did not breach the low of the first day of the fall. "This keeps open the possibility of the fall in the broader indices coming to an end soon. Nifty could stay in the 17,533-17,729 band for the near term."

The market breadth was still tilted towards the bulls as out of 3,633 scrips traded on the BSE today, 1,818 advanced and 1,694 declined while 121 remained unchanged. Further, during the session, as many as 109 stocks hit their 52-week high while 25 scrips fell to their one-year low. 

On the sectoral front, technology stocks slumped the most, followed by power stocks. The S&P BSE Information Technology index dropped by 1.68 per cent to 26,562.55 levels while the S&P BSE Power index ended at 3,603.50, down over 1 per cent. On the contrary, metal stocks witnessed a decent rally in the morning trade; however, they pared gains towards the end of the session. At close, the S&P BSE Metal index stood at 20,132.18, up 0.43 per cent.

Buzzing stocks

Among individual stocks, shares of Piramal Pharma jumped as much as 10.17 per cent to Rs 79.17 apiece on the BSE on April 19 on the successful closure of the US FDA Inspection at the company’s manufacturing facility located at Sellersville, USA. The stock ended at Rs 77.56, up nearly 8 per cent on the BSE.

BEML Land Assets settled 5 per cent lower at Rs 275.70 on its debut. BEML has spun off its non-core and surplus assets including land into BEML Land Assets, as part of the government's strategic disinvestment drive. The stock was listed at Rs 290.2 apiece on BSE and Rs 287 apiece on NSE, in line with market expectations. Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi had predicted a listing price for BEML Land Assets shares at around Rs 270-300 apiece.

The broader market ended mixed. The S&P BSE MidCap index ended 0.18 per cent lower at 24,941.78 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index added 0.12 per cent at 28,281.10 points.