Stock market today: After trading on a choppy note for a major part of the session on Wednesday, April 30, the Indian stock market’s benchmark indices – Sensex and Nifty 50 – ended marginally lower as losses in Bajaj twins and tensions with Pakistan kept investor sentiment in check.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi granted military chiefs freedom to respond to last week’s deadly militant attack in Kashmir, according to a Reuters report. Meanwhile, Pakistan claimed that it has “credible evidence” which indicates that India is preparing to launch military action within the next 24 to 36 hours. These developments kept investors on the sidelines ahead of the stock market holiday tomorrow.
Additionally, index heavyweights Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv faced hefty losses today, falling 5% each, following the March quarter earnings. Investors largely booked profit in Bajaj Finance as brokerages flagged weak pre-provision profit and higher credit costs as negatives, even as the bottomline rose.
Against this backdrop, the BSE barometer Sensex closed the session 0.06% or 46 points lower at 80,242.24. Meanwhile, its NSE counterpart Nifty 50 settled at 24,334.20, down 0.01%. The broader markets witnessed deeper cuts, with the BSE Midcap index closing 0.72% lower at 42,883.72 and the BSE Smallcap index declining 1.74% to settle at 47,400.31.
In the Nifty 50 pack of stocks, 15 counters ended in the green and 35 in the red. Among Nifty 50 stocks, HDFC Life Insurance, Maruti Suzuki and SBI Life Insurance emerged as top performers, gaining up to 4% today. However, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Trent, Tata Motors and State Bank of India were the top laggards, shedding 3-6% each.
Sectoral Snapshot
In the sectoral space, even as the majority of indices closed lower, realty, pharma and auto packs shone.
The Nifty PSU Bank pack was the worst hit, declining 2.23%. Nifty Media closely trailed it, with a loss of 2.18%. Nifty Bank lost 0.55% today, and Nifty Financial Services declined by 0.31%. FMCG, IT and metal packs also closed in the red, losing between 0.05% to 0.35%.
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