Benchmark stock indices closed flat on Monday, dragged down by a fall in banking and financial stocks.
The S&P BSE Sensex was down 36.22 points to close at 79,960.38 while, NSE Nifty50 lost 3.30 points to 24,320.55.
“Due to lack of any fresh trigger, markets witnessed a range-bound session throughout the day and ended marginally weak owing to select profit-taking in banking, telecom and realty shares. Weak Asian cues also weighed on sentiment, while stretched valuations could see investors maintain caution for sometime,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.
In the latest Nifty50 trading session, the top gainers were ONGC with a 4.15% increase, ITC rising by 2.34%, HDFC Life up by 2.25%, Hindustan Unilever gaining 1.33%, and Wipro increasing by 1.33%.
On the other hand, Titan saw the largest decline, falling by 3.33%, followed by Divi’s Laboratories which decreased by 3.23%. Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) dropped by 2.49%, Shriram Finance fell by 1.95%, and Adani Ports decreased by 1.56%.
“The market is turning to a consolidation phase due to the absence of major triggers to support the current premium valuation in the near term, prompting investors to book some profits. The earnings season is around the corner, and the initial expectation is subdued. With stable input prices and ongoing price cuts, the period of margin expansion appears to be concluding, which is likely to affect earnings and valuations,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
In the latest update on the Nifty sectoral indices, Nifty FMCG showed a notable gain of 1.63%. Nifty Oil and Gas also surged 0.88%, while Nifty IT had a modest increase of 0.06%.
On the other hand, several sectors experienced declines. Nifty Bank decreased by 0.45%, Nifty Auto fell by 0.54%, and Nifty Financial Services dropped by 0.23%. Nifty Financial Services 25/50 saw a slight decline of 0.05%, and Nifty Media decreased by 0.37%.
Nifty Metal experienced a significant drop of 0.93%, Nifty Pharma fell by 0.63%, Nifty PSU Bank declined by 0.20%, and Nifty Private Bank decreased by 0.25%.