Nifty, Sensex Snap Two–Day Rally As Focus Shifts To Fed-Rate Decision: Market Wrap

The NSE Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex snapped a two–day rally and settled over 1% lower on Thursday, tracking losses in ICICI Bank Ltd. and Reliance Industries Ltd. The Indian benchmarks were also one of the worst-performing indices as compared to Asian peers.

The Nifty 50 closed 284.70 points or 1.16% down at 24,199.35, while the Sensex ended 836.34 points or 1.04% lower at 79,541.79.

During the day, the Nifty 50 declined as much as 1.25% to 24,179.05 and the Sensex declined 1.19% to 74,419.34.

The markets started pricing in effects of Donald Trump winning the US election on the emerging markets' financial assets, which weighed on the risk on sentiments. Trump's presidency is betted to be positive for safe–haven assets like the dollar index and US treasury yields.

During the session Trent Ltd.'s share price slumped over 9% after delivering weaker-than-expected earnings for July–September period.

Hindalco Industries Ltd. share price declined to over a one-month low as it slumped over 8%. The concern about Novelis' weak earnings weighed on the sentiment for the stocks.

Diverging from strong global equities, the Indian markets started the weekly expiry trade on a tepid note and a sudden fall was seen in the opening trade followed by a range-bound trade, according to Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Share Brokers.

On the daily chart, the Nifty has formed a bearish engulfing pattern, but it appears that it is forming a right shoulder of an inverted head and shoulder formation with a neckline being placed at 24,500, which is also immediate resistance. On the lower side, a psychological level of 24,000 will serve as a support, Gaggar said.

ICICI Bank Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., Trent Ltd., Hindalco Industries Ltd. and HDFC Bank Ltd. weighed on the Nifty 50 the most.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., and HDFC Bank Life Insurance Co. led the gains.

All the 12 sectors on the NSE ended lower, with the Nifty Metal and Pharma declining the most.

The broader indices outperformed the benchmarks as the BSE MidCap closed 0.7% lower and SmallCap closed 0.4% lower.

All 21 sectoral indices on the BSE ended lower, with Metal falling the most.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of the sellers as 2,134 stocks fell, 1,823 rose and 96 remained unchanged on the BSE.