Indices flat; Bajaj Finance up over 2%, Wipro, TecM muted ahead of Q4 nos

Indian equities saw a muted start on April 27, 2023, - the last day of the futures & options contracts of the April series. The S&P BSE Sensex traded 0.07 per cent higher at the 60,342.96 level while the NSE's Nifty was trading at 17,823.70, up 0.06 per cent.

Banking and financial stocks were the leading gainers in the opening trade. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and IndusInd Bank surged over 2 per cent. On the other hand, IT and auto stocks were under pressure. 

"The 4.2 per cent up move in Nifty helped by the 7.2 per cent surge in Bank Nifty, came in a challenging environment. Now, there are more macro positives which can sustain this rally. The significant macro positive is the 4 per cent overnight crash in Brent crude. This will further improve India’s CAD which is already healthy. This will also have a benign effect on inflation, enabling the MPC not to raise interest rates further. In this scenario banking, which is already doing well, can do better," says Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Nifty has broken the upper band of the 17,500- 17,800 range in which it has been trading recently. The rally may sustain but a significant surge beyond 18,000 appears difficult in the near term, Vijayakumar adds.

In the broader market, small-cap stocks stole the show as the S&P BSE SmallCap index traded over half a per cent higher at 28,628.22 levels. In comparison, the S&P BSE MidCap index was up 0.20 per cent at 25,080.13 points.

Buzzing stocks

L&T Technology Services (LTTS) was trading over 5 per cent higher after robust March quarter earnings. KPIT Technologies was also ruling over 3 per cent higher at Rs 933 on the BSE. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 948.30 in early deals after reporting an encouraging set of numbers for the quarter that ended March 2023. Voltas, on the other hand, slipped over 2 per cent after the company posted a 21.2 per cent drop in fourth-quarter profit, as the air conditioner and refrigerator maker remained under pressure from the termination of some overseas contracts. 

Global Markets

Asian shares extended losses on Thursday as troubles at US lender First Republic Bank continued to unnerve investors amid concerns that growth in the world's biggest economy could very well surprise to the downside. Overnight on Wall Street, Nasdaq notched a 0.5 per cent gain on tech, while the S&P 500 and the Dow were pulled lower by weakness in economically sensitive sectors, hinting at mounting recession jitters, as per a Reuters report. 

In commodities, oil prices dropped by almost 4 per cent on Wednesday, extending the previous session's sharp losses, even after a report showed US crude inventories fell more than expected, as recession fears grew for the world's biggest economy.