Nifty, Sensex End Little Changed As Asian Paints, RIL Weigh; Banks Cushion: Market Wrap

The NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex ended the choppy session little changed on Monday. Asian Paints Ltd., and Reliance Industries Ltd. share prices dragged the indices, while HDFC Bank Ltd., and ICICI Bank Ltd. supported the benchmarks.

The Nifty 50 ended 6.90 points, or 0.03% lower at 24,141.30, and the Sensex ended 9.83 points, or 0.01% higher at 79,496.15.

During the session, the Nifty 50 rose 0.78% to 24,336.80, and the Sensex rose 0.77% to 79,001.34.

Asian Paints hit the lowest level since May 3, 2021 in Monday's session as analysts flagged concerns regarding its growth going forward after it missed earning estimates on all fronts during July–September

Indian equities commenced the week on a tepid note and weakness in the mid/small-cap segments put further pressure on the index to trade lower, said Aditya Gaggar, director, Progressive Share Brokers Pvt. However, information technology and banking counters came to the rescue and helped the Nifty recover, but the higher levels did not last for long and erased all its gains to end the session at 24,141.30 with a loss of 6.90 points, he said.

Barring IT and banking indices, all the other sectors ended the trade in red where media and metal were the major laggards. The underperformance by the broader markets extended as mid and small-caps corrected by 0.88% and 1.20%, respectively, Gaggar said.

"After testing both resistance (24,250) and support (24,000) levels, the index has formed a Spinning Top candlestick pattern, which indicates indecisiveness between the bulls and bears. A convincing move on either side is necessary for a clear trend," he said.

Shares of Infosys Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Power Grid Corp. of India, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., and ICICI Bank Ltd. positively contributed to changes in the Nifty 50.

While those of Asian Paints Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., and Britannia Industries Ltd. weighed on the index.

On NSE, eight out of 12 sectors declined and four advanced. The NSE Nifty Media declined the most, and the NSE Nifty IT rose the most.

Broader markets underperformed benchmark indices. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended 0.79% and 1.14% lower, respectively.

On BSE, 14 out of 21 sectors declined, six advanced, and one remained unchanged. The BSE Healthcare declined the most, and the BSE Focused IT rose the most.

Market breadth was skewed in the favour of sellers. Around 2,550 stocks declined, 1,545 stocks advanced, and 118 stocks remained unchanged on BSE.