Benchmark equity indices of India recorded a second session of fall but Nifty snapped its four-week losing streak and Sensex ended the week flat ahead of special session on Diwali day. On Thursday, they were dragged by shares of IT and financial services companies.
The stock market will remain open on Friday from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. in a special Diwali Muhurat trading session held every year.
The NSE Nifty 50 closed 135.50 points, or 0.56% down at 24,205.35, while the S&P BSE Sensex ended 553.12 points, or 0.69% lower at 79,389.06. Intraday, Nifty fell as much as 0.7% and Sensex fell as much as 0.8%.
However, small-cap indices outperformed the benchmarks and continued to rise for a fourth consecutive session. Nifty Smallcap 100 closed 1.15% higher at 18,602.60 while Nifty Smallcap 250 rose 1.5% to close at 17,751.20. On a weekly basis both these indices have gained more than 4%.
"From a medium to long-term perspective, we remain optimistic on Indian markets and expect indices to give returns in mid double digits over 12 months period," said Aditya Agarwal, head of derivatives and technical analysis at Sanctum Wealth.
"However, from a short-term perspective, markets will be volatile and can see 4-5% correction," he added. "We prefer large-cap stocks over mid and small-cap and expect heavyweight to outperform over next 12 months."
Shares of Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Cipla Ltd., Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., Oil & Natural Gas Corp., and Grasim Industries cushioned the fall in Nifty.
While those of Infosys Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., HCLTech Ltd., and Tech Mahindra Ltd. dragged the index.
Most sectoral indices fell. Nifty IT was top loser and Nifty Pharma rose the most.
Broader markets ended on a mixed note. The BSE Midcap ended 0.34% down, and BSE Smallcap ended 1.62% higher.
On BSE, 13 out of 20 sectors declined and seven advanced. The BSE Focused IT fell the most, and BSE Industrial was the top gainer.
Market breadth was skewed in the favour of buyers. Around 2,675 stocks advanced, 1,243 stocks declined, and 108 stocks remained unchanged on BSE.
Weekly Performance
On a weekly basis, Nifty snapped four-week fall and ended 0.1% up and Sensex closed flat. This week, Nifty PSU Bank rose the most and Nifty IT was top loser.
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