The National Stock Exchange – Nifty 50 index recovered from intraday low to close at flat note helped by buying interest in state-run banking, auto and metal shares. For most part of the day, benchmarks traded with a negative bias however recovery in late Nifty Bank index in the last hour of trade helped benchmarks recover from intraday lows. The Sensex fell as much as 484 points at the day’s lowest level and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 15,460.
The Nifty 50 index advanced 1 point to close at 15,576 and Sensex slipped 85 points to close at 51,849.
Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty PSU Bank index’s nearly 3 per cent gain. Nifty Auto, Metal, and Realty indexes also rose between 1.5-2.4 per cent.
On the other hand, FMCG and IT stocks witnessed selling pressure.
Broader markets outperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 advanced over 1.5 per cent to close at record high and Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbed 1.3 per cent.
Shares of the Noida-based auto components maker – Motherson Sumi Systems – rose as much as 11 per cent to hit record high of Rs 264.40 on the BSE after it reported Match quarter earnings. Motherson Sumi reported consolidated net profit of Rs 714 crore as against Rs 183 crore in the same quarter last year that marked an increase of 290 per cent or nearly four times.
ITC was top Nifty loser, the stock dropped nearly 3 per cent to close at Rs 209 after its net profit declined in the March quarter. ITC reported a net profit of Rs 3,748 crore in the quarter ended March 2021 compared to a net profit of Rs 3,797.08 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, marking a decline of 1.3 per cent.
Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, Asian Paints, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HCL Technologies, TCS, Infosys, HDFC Bank and Nestle India were also among the losers.
On the flipside, UPL, Tata Steel, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Reliance Industries, Adani Ports, HDFC Life, IndusInd Bank and SBI Life were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,141 shares ended higher while 974 closed lower on the BSE.