Market update: Sensex down by 273 pts; Nifty down by 71 pts

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The market tanked in the post-lunch session on Wednesday on heavy profit-booking. The BSE Sensex is now at 70,467.33, down by 38.98 pts or 0.06 per cent, and Nifty at 21,141.30, down by 8.85 points or 0.04 per cent as of 10:50 am on Thursday.

Although all the sectors continue to trade in the red on Thursday, the Nifty Smallcap 100 has recovered from the red at 14,572.05, up by 164.20 points or 1.14 per cent at 10:47 am, and the Nifty Midcap 100 is positive at 44,316.45, up by 291.50 points or 0.66 per cent. They were down over 500 and 1000 points, respectively, on Wednesday evening.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, “Two trends are important: one, the correction in mid- and small-caps is almost double the correction in large-caps; two, DIIs turned big buyers towards the end of the trading day. The vulnerability of the mid- and small-caps to correction remains since the valuations are excessive. Large caps will witness buying on declines. Investors can wait for the market to stabilise and buy high quality large-cap stocks on declines.”

Commenting on Nifty outlook, Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, “It is difficult to pick a turnaround point now given expectations for a continuation of yesterday’s downside momentum. However, it is fair to expect a consolidation or a regrouping of bulls once in the vicinity of 14d ema of 20985, or at the 20d sma near 20748. Upside marker may be placed near 21,121, a break of which could unfold a mean reversion move towards 21,250. This though is likely to be short-lived, as prospects of sub-20k levels will be weighed in the coming days.”

Vaishali Parekh, Vice-President – Technical Research, Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt, said, “With near-term support maintained near the 20,800 zone, one needs to wait and watch for things to settle down and confirm clarity for further development. The support for the day is seen at 21000, while the resistance is seen at 21300.”

Major gainers on the NSE as of 10:44 am were Power Grid, Apollo Hospitals, LTIMindtree, Eicher Motors and Britannia. Major stocks that declined include Axis Bank, LT, Cipla, ICICI Bank, and IndusInd.

On the BSE, 3,655 stocks were traded, of which 2,302 stocks advanced, 1,217 declined and 136 remain unchanged as of 10:48 am.