Mumbai– A day ahead of the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy review, profit booking capped gains, thereby, restricting key equity indices to close flat on Thursday.
Even though both S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 ended flat, they both closed the day’s trade at record closing highs.
Globally, Asian shares were mixed after a disappointing US jobs report, whereas, European shares opened lower after data underscored the economic damage caused by the pandemic.
Back home, indices opened on a higher note after which they consistently came under selling pressure to trade in a tight range.
Among sectors, metals, realty, power, auto, pharma and consumer durables index gained the most, while IT and banking sectors came under profit taking.
However, healthy foreign fund inflows arrested any sharp downturns.
Data regarding FII and FPI trading activity on BSE, NSE & MSEI in Capital Market Segment showed Rs 3,637.42 crore flowing in.
Consequently, the NSE Nifty50 was at 13,133.90, up by 20.15 points, or 0.15 per cent, from its previous close.
Sensex was trading at 44,632.65, higher by 14.61 points, or 0.03 per cent, from the previous close of 44,618.04.
“Nifty, despite the minor slide from the record opening, closed just below the earlier record of 13,146. The slow upward grind of the Nifty continues while individual stocks or sectors continue to do well,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.
Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said: “Markets was largely dragged down by IT stocks and heavyweight HDFC Bank after the RBI advised the lender to temporarily halt launches of the Digital 2.0 programme, sourcing new credit card customers. Otherwise the overall sentiments remain positive.”
“With fresh covid cases reducing, and potential vaccine in sight, hopes of quicker economic recovery continues to add strength to the momentum.”
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said: “The broad market is continuing its buoyancy led by rally in mid & small cap stocks. This trend can continue given the gap between the pricing of main and broad stocks.”
“Today, large caps are mildly underperforming, in which financial stocks did contributed to the upside, but weakness in HDFC bank post the RBI curbs limited the upside. Hopes are alive that economic recovery will grow wider as fresh covid cases are reducing, adding strength to the momentum.” (IANS)
