Indian Equity Benchmark Closes Flat Amidst Pressure From Heavyweights

The Indian equity benchmark closed flat on Monday, with the Sensex down 12 points at 80,424 and Nifty up 31 points at 24,572. Despite pressure from heavyweights like M&M, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Bharti Airtel, the overall market trend remained positive.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 2,708 shares closed in the green, 1,321 in the red, and 136 without change. Buying was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks, with Nifty midcap 100 up 104 points or 0.18% and Nifty smallcap 100 up 315 points or 1.71%.

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Sectoral indices saw IT, PSU Bank, pharma, metal, realty, and energy as major gainers, while Auto, fin service, and Pvt Bank were major losers. Market experts attribute the failure to catch up with initial gains to profit booking in auto stocks due to a slowdown in demand. However, oil stocks gained momentum with the reduction in windfall tax on crude oil.

Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Tata Steel, TCS, NTPC, JSW Steel, Asian Paints, Reliance, Titan, Wipro, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, and HCL Tech, while M&M, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Bharti Airtel were the top losers.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst of LKP Securities, noted that the Nifty remained range-bound throughout the day, appearing to pause before the next rally. He added that the trend likely favors the bulls as long as it stays above 24,300, with resistances placed at 24,750-24,800. Gold traded positive in MCX with gains of Rs 170 at Rs 71,550 per 10 grams.