Nifty closes marginally lower; metals shine, media and realty drag

Bajaj Auto, JSW Steel, and Cipla emerged as the top gainers amongst Nifty stocks

Market update at 3.30 PM: Indices traded with volatility but closed nearly flat. Nifty lost about 14 points to close at 16,549.55. Meanwhile, Nifty Smallcap witnessed a severe sell-off and closed 1.02 per cent lower. Besides, Nifty Midcap closed on a flat note.  

Nifty Metal rose over a per cent and emerged as the top performer among the sectoral indices. However, Nifty Media and Nifty Realty underperformed. Bajaj Auto, JSW Steel, and Cipla emerged as the top gainers amongst Nifty stocks while the top losers include Shree Cement, BPCL, and Asian Paints.  

India VIX rose about 1.10 per cent on a day of a flat market.  

Market update at 12.50 PM: Indices are off their day’s low while Nifty has recovered about 120 pints. Nifty is currently flat whereas the mid-cap and small-cap indices have also seen some recovery.   

Metals and banks have gained and primarily, supported the market. Meanwhile, media and realty are weak.   

Bajaj Auto, JSW Steel, and ONGC are the top gainers of Nifty 50 index. Meanwhile, India VIX continues to remain higher by 2 per cent.  

Market update at 10.50 AM: Indices are trading lower amid volatility. Nifty hovers at 16,500 and is down by 0.50 per cent. However, the mid-cap and small-cap indices witnessed severe profit booking and are down by over a per cent each.  

Energy stocks are higher today while ONGC & NTPC have emerged as the top two gainers of Nifty. Meanwhile, IT stocks and financials are weak. Bajaj Finserv has plunged over 3 per cent and is the top loser of Nifty.  

The advance-decline ratio stands at 547:1,339 while the overall market sentiment is bearish.   

Market update at 10 AM: Indices are trading lower amid volatility. Nifty is down by 0.42 per cent while Sensex has lost about 233 points. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap have plunged about 0.90 per cent & 1.21 per cent respectively.  

Among the sectors, pharma and energy are flat while the rest of them are weak. The top draggers include media, IT, and realty.  

Meanwhile, India VIX has surged nearly 2 per cent.

Pre-market update: Last Friday, the US markets closed lower. Nasdaq slipped about 2.71 per cent while Dow Jones tanked 348 points. However, Dow Jones futures are higher today morning with modest gains of 70 points.  

Thus, the Asian markets have opened mixed, and SGX Nifty indicates a gap-down opening of about 100 points.  

The US jobs (non-farm payroll) data was released last Friday, which suggests strong growth and job creation that remained robust despite concerns over economic slowdown & inflation fears.  

In the last trading session, the FIIs have sold for about Rs 3,770 crore while the DIIs bought about Rs 2,360 crore worth of equity.  

Crude oil has inched closer to USD 120 per barrel on easing lockdown restrictions in China.  

Nifty is likely to open near 16,500 while the action of the first hour might be significant to understand the further trend of the market.