Adani saga snaps upward trajectory

Mumbai: Equity markets witnessed mixed trends on Thursday with BSE Sensex climbing over 224 points, while the NSE Nifty dipped almost six points in a see-saw session. The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex advanced 224.16 points or 0.38 per cent to settle at 59,932.24. During the day, it hit a high of 60,007.67 and a low of 59,215.62. However, the broader NSE Nifty dipped 5.90 points or 0.03 per cent to end at 17,610.40, weighed down by continuous selling in Adani group stocks.

"Despite a growth oriented Budget, drop in crude prices and upside in the global market, the domestic market is not able to gain because of the Adani saga having a ripple impact on the investors. In addition, the premium valuation of India continues to weigh down the performance compared to other emerging markets which are expecting upside in the economy. The global markets are positive in assumption of being in the last phase of the rate hikes," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"The rout in Adani group stocks continued to play havoc as benchmark indices gyrated sharply intra-day before recouping lost ground on buying in IT and banking stocks. However, power, energy, oil & gas, and utility stocks were plundered as investors continued to exit in view of dampening sentiment. More than external factors, investors' sentiments have been hurt by the domestic mood," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers as they bought shares worth a net Rs 1,785.21 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.36 per cent and the midcap index gained 0.21 per cent. Among indices, FMCG rallied 2.18 per cent, IT (1.65 per cent), teck (1.60 per cent), industrials (0.60 per cent) and bankex (0.45 per cent). Utilities tanked the most by 3.78 per cent, followed by power, oil & gas, commodities, consumer discretionary, energy, metal and consumer durables.

ITC jumped 4.74 per cent to top the Sensex gainers' chart for the second straight day. The other major winners included IndusInd Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and ICICI Bank.