Market at Close | Sensex drops 322 points, Nifty ends below 26,300 after record high

The equity benchmark indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty on Monday (January 5) after failing to sustain levels near record highs, with selling pressure seen across select heavyweight stocks. The Nifty slipped below the 26,300 mark despite touching a fresh lifetime high during the session, while market breadth tilted in favour of declines.

The Sensex closed 322 points lower at 85,440, while the Nifty fell 78 points to end at 26,250. During the day, the Nifty hit a record high of 26,373, and the Nifty Midcap index touched a fresh peak of 61,520 before paring gains. At the close, the midcap index was down 100 points at 61,266.

From the Sensex basket, Nestle India Ltd, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Eicher Motors Ltd, Asian Paints Ltd and Tata Steel Ltd were the major gainers. HDFC Bank Ltd, Infosys Ltd, Wipro Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd and Bajaj Finance Ltd were the biggest laggards.

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The Nifty Bank index closed marginally lower but remained in the red, slipping 107 points to 60,044. HDFC Bank weighed on the index, declining more than 2%. Market breadth weakened, with the advance-decline ratio at 2:3, indicating more stocks ending lower than higher.

IT stocks came under pressure following brokerage downgrades, dragging the Nifty IT index down 1.5%. Upstream oil companies tracked movements in crude prices amid news related to Venezuela, with ONGC declining 2%.

Defence stocks saw buying interest on expectations of a higher budgetary allocation, with Bharat Electronics rising 3%. FMCG stocks closed largely in the green, supported by Q3 business updates, as Nestle India

gained 3%.

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Auto stocks remained in focus following December sales data, with Eicher Motors and Maruti Suzuki hitting record highs. SJVN extended its previous session’s gains, rising another 6%.

Air-conditioner and related stocks moved higher on healthy volumes, with PG Electroplast, Amber Enterprises and Voltas gaining between 3% and 5%. Realty stocks advanced on expectations of improved demand, with Lodha Group companies and

Prestige Group emerging as top gainers.

Among individual stocks, CSB Bank hit the upper circuit as growth in the gold loan book supported overall loan growth. Union Bank of India rose 3% after reporting an improvement in loan growth on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Ola Electric continued its gaining streak, rising another 8%. On the downside, Premier Energies and Waaree Energies declined 5% to 7% following a brokerage note.

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