Stock Market Today: Indices erase intraday gains to end lower; Sensex crashes 311 pts, Nifty settles below 17,550-mark

Share Market, Stock Market Today, Sensex, Nifty, August 25: The S&P BSE Sensex crashed 310.71 points (0.53 per cent) to end at 58,774.72 while the Nifty 50 declined 82.50 points (0.47 per cent) to settle at 17,522.45.

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The broader Nifty of NSE declined by 90.25 points or 0.5 per cent to 18,028.05 as 39 of its scrips traded in the red Express photo by Partha Paul)

Market Today: The frontline indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) erased their intraday gains and ended around 0.5 per cent lower on Thursday on expiry of August-series futures and options (F&O) contracts.

The S&P BSE Sensex crashed 310.71 points (0.53 per cent) to end at 58,774.72 while the Nifty 50 declined 82.50 points (0.47 per cent) to settle at 17,522.45. Both the indices had opened over 0.4 per cent earlier in the day and traded higher for the bulk of the session rising around 0.7 per cent before giving up their gains and ending lower in the last hour of trade.

On the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Power Grid Corporation of India, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) were the top losers on Thursday while Maruti Suzuki India, State Bank of India (SBI) and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories ended higher.

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Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty IT index fell 0.87 per cent, Nifty Metal index slipped 0.51 per cent and Nifty Pharma declined 0.40 per cent. On the other hand, the Nifty PSU Bank index rose 2.74 per cent and Nifty Realty climbed 1.47 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 25,019.90, up 50.56 points (0.20 per cent) while the S&P BSE SmallCap settled at 28,315.61, up 48.97 points (0.17 per cent). The volatility index or India VIX on NSE climbed 6.18 per cent to 19.57.

Summing up the market, Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities noted, “Nifty fell on Aug 25, snapping a two day rise, on the monthly F&O expiry day, disregarding the mild gains in markets elsewhere. Nifty opened gap up and rose mildly in the morning. Post 1415 Hrs, a sell-off was seen in the Nifty leading it to close 0.47 per cent or 82.5 points lower at 17522.5. Among sectors, Realty and Consumer Durables were the main gainers while IT was the main loser. Broad market performed better than the Nifty as is evident from the positive close in Smallcap and Midcap indices and by the positive advance decline ratio.”

Commenting on the Nifty he said, “Nifty has formed a bearish engulfing top on daily charts and seems to have formed a lower high on short term basis. Unless the high of 17,727 is breached, Nifty could witness declines/sell on rallies. A downward breach of 17,345 could lead to acceleration in the fall.”

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Global Market (from Reuters)

Share markets pushed higher and Europe’s bond markets and euro stole a breather from energy-price driven sell-offs on Thursday, as investors waited to hear the latest reaction of the world’s top central bankers to soaring inflation. Asia had tailgated Wall Street higher overnight and Europe’s bourses did the same as oil and gas stocks made another 1.5 per cent jump amid intensifying worries of a Russian gas supply crisis.

The 0.7 per cent rise in European stocks left MSCI’s 47-country index of world shares up 0.4 per cent with US stock futures pointing to similar gains for the S&P 500 later. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.7 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with modest gains.

Australian shares climbed 0.7 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index was up by 0.72 per cent. China’s CSI300 rose 0.8 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index surged 3.6 per cent in a shortened trading session due to a typhoon.