Sensex, Nifty Close Unchanged As Financials, Pharma Stocks Cap Gains

India’s stock benchmarks closed almost unchanged after hitting record highs in intraday trade, as gains in metals, energy, FMCG and tech stocks were offset by the losses in financials, realty and pharmaceutical stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex pared all the intraday gains to close little changed at 55,944.21. The 30-stock index rose to record 56,198.13 in intra-day trade. The NSE Nifty 50 also closed almost unchanged at 16,634.65, a record close for the 50-stock index. Nifty 50 hit a record 16,712.45 in intra-day trade. Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 0.9 percent. Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 3.7 percent.

The broader indices outperformed their larger peers with both the S&P BSE MidCap and the S&P BSE SmallCap adding 0.6%. Ten out of 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE Ltd. declined, with S&P BSE Consumer Durables shedding over 1% and S&P BSE Realty and Telecom indices slipping nearly 1%. On the flipside, S&P BSE Oil & Gas, S&P BSE Power & S&P BSE Energy indices rose over 1%.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,992 stocks advanced,1,213 declined and 105 remained unchanged.

"Benchmark Nifty hit a fresh record high, but failed to close above the 16,700 mark due to profit booking at higher levels. Technically, post the strong pullback rally, the index has formed a double top kind of reversal formation near the 16,700 resistance level, which is broadly negative for the market. However, the larger texture of the market is still bullish, but for day traders the 16,700 level would act as a major hurdle. Above the same, the uptrend could continue up to 16,750-16,790 levels. On the flip side, a strong possibility of quick intraday correction up to 16,580-16,550 levels is not ruled out if the Nifty succeeds to trade below 16,620", wrote Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research, Kotak Securities Ltd in a note.

Delhivery Pvt, an Indian logistics and supply chain startup plans to file a draft prospectus as soon as October for its initial public offering that could raise $1 billion

The company, backed by SoftBank Vision Fund and Carlyle Group Inc., is targeting a Mumbai listing before March next year. The offering could include both new and existing shares.

Source: People with knowledge on the matter.

Founded in 2011, Delhivery handles more than 1.5 million packages a day through its 43,000-strong team across India, according to its website.

Cipla Ltd. has entered into a joint venture with Kemwell Biopharma Pvt Ltd. for incorporation of a joint venture company.

This firm will undertake the business of developing, applying for and obtaining licenses for the manufacturing, commercialization, import and export of biologic products as well as licensing and outsourcing activities.

Cipla will hold 60% stake in the JV company on a fully diluted basis and the incorporation is done with an objective to enter the respiratory biosimilars space, according to exchange filing by Cipla.

Shares of Cipla shed 0.6% to Rs 912.15 on 3 p.m. Of the 40 analysts tracking the company, 35 maintained 'buy', 4 maintained 'hold' and 1 analyst maintained 'sell' recommendation. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied an upside of 16.4%

Shares of Sugar companies climbed after the union cabinet decided to increase the Fair & Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane to Rs 290 per quintal.

If the recovery is below 9.5%, then the farmers will be provided Rs 275 per quintal.

Shares of Dalmia Bharat Sugar & Industries, Balrampur Chini, Shree Renuka Sugars, Triveni Engineering & Industries advanced following the announcement.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman emphasised better credit flow for exports and urged banks to come up with specific plans for better credit expansion in north eastern states. She also hailed the performance of PSU banks collectively and stated that signs of revival were visible in Indian economy.

Highlights From Finance Minister's Press Conference

• PSBs have been requested to have discussions on future business with exporters and export industry bodies.

• Have emphasised the need for better credit flow to export and export-oriented companies.

• Nothing to say on bank privatisation at the moment.

• At this stage it is a little too much to safely assess the impact of monsoon.

• We can see revival in the country, irrespective of rainfall.

• Have asked banks to do a credit outreach program this year in every district of the country after October.

• Collectively public sector banks have done well.

• Individually too some of the PSU Banks have performed well.

• Even though PSU Banks were going through the pandemic and implementing various government schemes, they have not let the amalgamation processes suffer.