Stock Market Today: It was a wild ride for the markets on Friday as a hawkish monetary policy by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) led to a tug of war between bulls and bears. While an in-line repo rate hike of 50 basis points gave ammunition to the bulls, bears tried to drag the indices as inflation projections were maintained for fiscal 2022-23 (FY23) despite three consecutive rate hikes.
Overall, the S&P BSE Sensex oscillated within a band of 405 points during the day, hitting a high of 58,649, and a low of 58,244. The index ended at 58,388, up 89 points or 0.15 per cent. The Nifty50, on the other hand, closed 16 points, or 0.09 per cent, higher at 17,397 levels.
UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers while Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries and Maruti Suzuki were the top losers. About 1807 shares have advanced, 1,466 shares declined, and 144 shares are unchanged.
Among the sectors, power and auto indices shed over a percent each while buying was seen in financial and IT names.
Ajit Mishra, VP – Research, Religare Broking, said: “Markets remained range bound for yet another session and ended almost unchanged amid mixed cues. After the flattish start, the benchmark tried to regain some strength however profit-taking at the higher levels capped the upside as the session progressed. It remained volatile till the end, after the outcome of MPC’s meeting which was in line with market expectations. Finally, the Nifty ended the choppy day on a flat note. On the sector front, a mixed trend continued wherein IT, FMCG and financials were the gainers while auto, energy, and media settled in the red.”
“With no major event lined up ahead, the focus would be on earnings and global cues for direction. On the index front, we’re currently seeing time-wise correction as it’s somehow holding around the upper band of the consolidation range. A decisive break above 17,400 would help resume the trend ahead else consolidation may continue. Since we’re seeing rotational buying across sectors, focus more on stock selection and overnight risk management,” Mishra said.
Global Cues
Tokyo stocks traded higher Friday following tech gains on Wall Street while more businesses reported that higher raw material prices were weighing on profits. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index opened flat then rose 0.23 per cent, or 65.06 points, to 27,997.26, while the broader Topix index was up 0.30 per cent, or 5.77 points, at 1,936.50.
Wall Street’s main indexes ended mixed on Thursday as gains in high-growth stocks offset losses in energy shares, with investors looking ahead to monthly jobs report for clues on the pace of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
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