Indian equity markets ended nearly flat on Monday after a volatile trading session, influenced by mixed global cues. While early gains were erased by mid-session declines, strong buying in metal, realty, and IT stocks helped the indices recover.
The 30-share BSE Sensex settled at 73,085.94, down by 112.16 points (0.15%) after swinging between an intra-day high of 73,649.72 and a low of 72,784.54. The Nifty 50 closed at 22,119.30, slipping just 5.40 points (0.02%) after touching a high of 22,261 and a low of 22,004.
Market Performance and Sectoral Trends
Markets opened on a positive note but soon lost momentum, with both Sensex and Nifty dropping nearly 0.5% by noon. However, renewed buying interest in key sectors helped indices recover in the latter half of the session.
Among Nifty 50 constituents, 33 stocks ended in the green. Top gainers included Bharat Electronics, Grasim, Eicher Motors, JSW Steel, and UltraTech Cement, which saw gains of up to 4.65%.
Conversely, Reliance Industries declined by 2.17%, weighing on market sentiment.
The broader market witnessed a mixed trend. While the Nifty Midcap100 index edged up by 0.14%, the Nifty Smallcap100 index declined 0.27%.
Sector-wise, performance remained mixed. Gains were seen in Nifty IT, Metal, Auto, Pharma, Realty, and Healthcare, with Nifty IT rising the most at 1.26%. However, banking, oil & gas, and media sectors faced losses of up to 1.10%.
Technical Analysis and Outlook
Following a prolonged downturn, Indian equities attempted a recovery after enduring their longest monthly losing streak since 1996.
Vatsal Bhuva of LKP Securities said that Nifty found strong support around the 22,000 mark and managed to close above the crucial 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of 22,043, calculated from the 2022 low of 15,213 to its all-time high of 26,277.
However, he cautioned that the broader market trend remains bearish, with a sell-on-rise approach prevailing unless Nifty decisively breaks above 22,600.
-IANS