
Domestic equity market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty 50 are trading in the red on Wednesday. BSE Sensex gave up the crucial 52,000 level while the broader Nifty 50 index fell below the psychological 15,300. Sensex is down by 155 points or 0.30% to 51,949, while the broader Nifty 50 index is ruling at 15,274, down by 39 points or 0.25%.
The Rs 100-crore IPO of Nureca Ltd was subscribed 15 times on second of the bidding process. The issue will close for a subscription today. The equity shares of Nureca are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE. While the Rs 820-crore initial public offering (IPO) of RailTel Corporation of India (RailTel) was subscribed 2.6 times on first day of the bidding process. The price band of the issue was fixed at Rs 93-94 per share with a face value of Rs 10. Minimum application size for the issue has to be 155 equity shares.
On Tuesday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,144.09 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,559.53 crore in the Indian equity market.
Highlights of the stock market on 17 February 2021:
- Bitcoin crosses the $50,000 mark as more companies signal it may gain widespread acceptance.
- Gold may remain under pressure.
- Jeff Bezos becomes world’s richest person again as Elon Musk fortune falls with Tesla share price.
Market Today:
- Barring Nifty PSU Bank index, all the sectoral indices are trading in the red. The nifty Metal index was down 0.84%, while the Nifty Financial Services index slipped 0.64%. On the flip side, Nifty PSU Bank index gained 1.75%.
- Stocks in focus on 17 February 2021: Adani Ports, Future Retail, Nestle India, Tech Mahindra, Nureca, Railtel.
- Stocks of IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj-Auto, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), State Bank of India (SBI) were among Sensex gainers.
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Nestle India, ONGC, Power Grid Corporation of India, Titan Company, ICICI Bank, HDFC were among top BSE Sensex laggards.
The Nifty posted its highest-ever quarterly earnings per share at Rs 164.4 for Q3 FY21. The 50-stock index managed to close 100 points off the day’s high and made an outside bar with the close being lower than open. The Nifty Bank declined more than 600 points from day’s high and underperformed the Nifty for the first time in 3 days as Axis and ICICI Bank declined the most. The banking gauge snapped its 2-day winning streak. The advance-decline was negative for a 3rd straight day despite the Nifty Midcap gaining 2nd day and Nifty Smallcap extending its winning streak to 5 days in a row.
Among other sector highlights –Nifty Metal gained most in a week led by JSPL, Nifty Energy gained most in 2 weeks led by Power Grid and ONGC, Nifty PSE gained most in over a week and Nifty IT posted the worst day of the month so far as Info Edge declined the most. The Nifty Energy & PSE indices showed relative strength by closing less than a per cent away from their respective 52 week high levels.
Foreign investors bought Indian equities worth Rs 1144 crore in the cash segment on a provisional basis and bought Rs 2385 crore in the futures & options market. They decreased the net long in index futures to 61% vs 63% on the previous day. That’s below the February average of 66%. Domestic institutions sold Indian equities worth Rs 1559 crore in the cash market.