Stock market today: Nifty 50, Sensex end with losses; banking, IT stocks among top drags; smallcaps buck the trend

Stock market today: Equity benchmarks the Nifty 50 and the Sensex resumed their downward march on Thursday, January 25, on losses led by select banking and IT heavyweights, including HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra and TCS.

Dimming hopes for an early rate cut by the US Fed have pushed investors to secure profits amid lacklustre December quarter earnings. Additionally, increasing bond yields are luring foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) away from Indian stocks. These combined factors contribute to the ongoing volatility in the market.

Today's volatility could also be attributed to the expiry of January futures and options (F&O) contracts.

Nifty 50 opened at 21,454.60 against the previous close of 21,453.95 and dipped as much as 207 points to hit the intraday low of 21,247.05. The index, however, pared losses and ended 101 points, or 0.47 per cent, lower at 21,352.60.

The Sensex opened at 71,022.10 against the previous close of 71,060.31 and fell 741 points to hit the intraday low of 70,319.04. The index finally ended 360 points, or 0.51 per cent, lower at 70,319.04.

Mid and smallcaps outperformed the benchmarks. While the BSE Midcap index ended with a loss of 0.36 per cent, the Smallcap index bucked the trend and ended with a gain of 0.54 per cent.

Also Read: Stock market today: Nifty 50, Sensex fall about half a per cent each; experts point out these 4 reasons

Top gainers in the Nifty 50 index

Only 16 stocks could manage to end with gains in the Nifty 50 index.

Shares of Bajaj Auto (up 5.23 per cent), Adani Ports (up 2.71 per cent) and NTPC (up 1.91 per cent) closed as the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index.

Top laggard in the Nifty 50 index

Shares of Tech Mahindra (down 5.89 per cent), Cipla (down 3 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (down 2.54 per cent) ended as the top laggards.

Also Read: Top Gainers and Losers today on 25 January, 2024: Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, Tech Mahindra, Cipla among most active stocks; Check full list here

Sectoral indices today

Nifty IT (down 1.60 per cent) closed as the top loser among sectoral indices, followed by Nifty Pharma (down 1.30 per cent), Healthcare (down 1.26 per cent) and FMCG (down 1.15 per cent).

Nifty Bank ended with a loss of 0.48 per cent.

Nifty Realty clocked a decent gain of 0.67 per cent.

Also Read: HCL Tech vs Wipro vs Tech Mahindra: What should investors buy after Q3 results?

Experts' views on markets

"The benchmark indices closed on a negative note taking cues from the global market as the positive upside coming from the US economy delayed the optimism of a rate cut. FIIs are in a selling mode as the yields on US benchmark bonds rise. The broader market is unable to hold gains as the concerns of high valuations, subpar results, and persisting geopolitical tension in West Asia, followed by an F&O expiry, are weighing down the market," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities underscored that the market is witnessing a lot of volatility ahead of the Budget with a negative bias as investors further booked profits to cut down their long positions on the expiry day.

He also added that FPI outflow, rising bond yields and mixed earnings are some of the other factors which are keeping investors nervous.

"Continuous outflows of foreign funds from the domestic equity market have been denting the sentiment over the past week as they have net sold local shares worth more than ₹33,000 crore in January so far. A rise in US bond yields coupled with mixed Q3 earnings so far and an uptick in international crude oil prices due to simmering tensions in West Asia has been making investors jittery about the near-term prospects," said Tapse.

Technical views on Nifty 50

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities underscored that the sentiment may continue to lean towards the bears as the Nifty struggled to surpass the 21,500 mark, where call writers held substantial positions.

"Looking ahead, the trend is likely to remain sideways, fluctuating within the range of 21,300 and 21,500. Nevertheless, a decisive breakthrough above 21,500 could propel the index towards 21,700/22,000 in the short term," said De.

Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas observed that the Nifty faced resistance at the zone of 21,520 –21,550. On the downside, the 21,240 – 21,220 zone acted as a support zone where the 40-day moving average is placed.

"The Nifty is consolidating within these two zones. A breach of this range shall lead to a move in that direction. The hourly momentum indicator has a positive crossover which is a buy signal and hence there can be a minor degree bounce up to 21,520 – 21,550 before it resumes the next leg of the fall," said Gedia.

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