Profit booking drags Nifty by 58 points, Sensex ends at 61,716

Domestic equity barometers took a breather after eight days of a relentless rally as they sharply pared gains in mid-afternoon trade amid profit booking in PSU bank, FMCG, and metal stocks. In today’s session Sensex hit a record high of 62,245 while the Nifty hit an all-time high of 18,604.45 in morning trade. However, Sensex ended the session at 61,716 levels, down 49 points or 0.08% while the Nifty 50 settled 58 points or 0.32% lower below the 18,500-mark at 18,418. "Indices met with profit-taking today even as the IT Index stood tall through the day which indeed had several bouts of volatility. Market breadth too was weak with declines outpacing advances led by the big names of the FMCG sector as the street awaits a slew of primary market offerings in the near term. The broader markets clearly witnessed profit booking in several top-performing Midcap names during the day," said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

Gainers & losers

[caption id="attachment_90699" align="alignnone" width="795"] Top gainers & losers on the Sensex.[/caption]

Sectoral strand

Most sectoral indices ended in the major loses on the NSE. Nifty Realty index plunged 4.74%, while Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty FMCG indices slipped 3.73% and 3.19%, respectively. Nifty Metal index tanked 2.46%. Whereas Nifty Auto, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Media ended the session with losses of over 1%. Nifty IT index was standing tall with 2.2% gains. Volatility index India VIX spiked 1.14% to 17.38 levels.

Broader markets

The pain was much deeper in the broader markets as BSE MidCap & BSE SmallCap indices saw sharp cuts from their life highs. The BSE MidCap index scaled to a new peak of 27,246 however settled at 533 points or 1.98% lower to 26,418. While BSE SmallCap index tanked 538 points or 1.79% to end below the 30,000 mark at 29,562 after hitting a new top of 30,416. Bears took charge of the markets in late trade as 2,385 shares declined compared to 979 advanced and 125 remained unchanged.

Global markets

European stocks were mixed while most Asian stocks advanced on Tuesday. Investors mulled corporate earnings as well as the prospect of tightening monetary policy to restrain inflation. Minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's October monetary policy meeting showed the RBA expecting the Australian economy to return to growth in the December quarter and to its pre-Delta path in the second half of 2022.