Markets End In Red, Metals Beaten Down 2%

The markets have been seeing weak trades this week. Today is the second consecutive day when the markets have shed points. After a flat to negative opening, trades remained choppy and closed in the negatives. By closing, the BSE Sensex was down 47 points at 17631 while Nifty was down 15 points at 5334. 

Overall, the market sentiment was very weak as the German and Chinese economies are fresh in the list of those facing a slowdown. Besides, the political deadlock in India has not been resolved yet.

The Asian indices had mixed luck, with Shanghai and Hang Seng in gains, while Nikkei saw a 0.58% decline.

The European indices have trimmed their losses after a negative opening. FTSE is up 0.03%, while CAC and DAX are still trading in losses but showing some recovery from the afternoon. The cut in gains is on the back of speculations that the central banks would go for a monetary push.

On the sectoral indices front, IT was the top gainer. This was mainly supported by the positive bias towards the IT giants such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro. FMCG stocks were also picked by the investors, and the index saw an appreciation of 0.7%. Besides these, Teck and Power were also up 0.5%. On the other hand, Metals and CG stocks were bearish and the indices saw de-growth of 2.44% and 1.66% respectively today.

Among the Sensex stocks, the country's top IT company TCS was on the investors’ radar. The sentiment was so bullish that the stock gained 2.2% and saw a 52-week high. BofA has said that TCS is currently gaining market share. Sun Pharmaceuticals reported that its subsidiary Caraco has received USFDA clearance to resume operations. The financial shares of Sun Pharma rose 1.69% by closing. The shares of Tata Power, NTPC, DRL and ITC also showed gains of over 1% today.

Metals, on the other hand, was flattened by the bearish sentiment. Jindal Steel, Sterlite, Hindalco and Tata Steel saw a significant decline in their prices. Sterlite was the top loser, down 5%. Jindal trimmed its afternoon losses by over 2% but still closed with a 5% decline in the share price.

L&T, ONGC and Coal India have also shown a decline of over 1% each.

Of the other shares, United Breweries is up 9% again today, scoring a new high. During this month, the company's shares have surged by 13%. HCL Infosystems surged by 20% on the news that Lenovo is to buy the promoters stake in company. The shares of GSPL and NMDC also surged by over 4% by the end of trades. Suzlon Energy, on the other hand, reported a new low today at Rs 15.15 per share.

Divi's Laboratories tanked over 4% on markets rumours of irregularities related to the company’s financials.

The advance-decline ratio on the BSE remained in favour of the bears, with 65% stocks seeing a decline in value.

The market has been trading in a very narrow range and will continue to do so until Thursday, Aug 30, when the Aug series expires.