India Stocks: India's Nifty 50, Sensex off to a muted start in 2024 as financials, IT weigh

NLC India

01/01/2024 04:39

(Updated at 9:51 a.m. IST)
    By Bharath Rajeswaran
       BENGALURU, Jan 1 (Reuters) - India's benchmark indexes
Nifty 50 and Sensex were muted on Monday, the first session of
2024, dragged by high weightage information technology and
financials, after clocking a 20% rise in 2023.
    The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50  .NSEI  fell 0.08% to 21,714.15
points, while the S&P BSE Sensex  .BSESN  shed 0.15% to
72,132,72, as of 9:51 a.m. IST.
    Five of the 13 major sectors logged losses. Financials
 .NIFTYFIN  and IT  .NIFTYIT  fell 0.25% each. 
    The more domestically-focussed small-  .NIFSMCP100  and
mid-caps  .NIFMDCP100  gained about 0.3% each, outperforming the
benchmarks, despite concerns over high valuations.
    "We stick with our positive view on large-caps, where
valuations are still somewhat reasonable," according to analysts
at Kotak Institutional Equities.
    Barring banks, most other sectors and stocks are
over-valued, they added.
    Oil and gas index  .NIFOILGAS  gained 0.8%, on falling crude
prices due to demand concerns. Easing oil prices are positive
for importers of the commodity like India.  O/R 
    Airline operators like Interglobe Aviation  INGL.NS  and
SpiceJet  SPJT.BO  jumped between 1.5% and 3%, aided by cut in
aviation turbine fuel costs.
    Bharat Heavy Electricals  BHEL.NS  jumped 4.4% on bagging a
contract worth 190 billion rupees from NLC India. HFCL  HFCL.NS 
climbed 3% on winning a $135 million order.
    Grasim Industries  GRAS.NS  gained 1.5% and was among the
top Nifty 50 gainers after commissioning additional capacity of
advanced materials manufacturing.
    Eicher Motors  EICH.NS  shed 1.6% and was the top percentage
loser on the Nifty 50. The automaker received goods and services
tax (GST) demand order worth about 1.30 billion rupees.
    Mahindra and Mahindra  MAHM.NS  lost 1% after the government
levied a 41.2 million rupees tax penalty on the firm. The
company said it will challenge the order.
    "Going ahead, the immediate focus would be on third-quarter
earnings and any deviation in earnings could trigger
profit-booking," according to analysts at Centrum Institutional
Research.
        
  
        
  
      
  
    

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FPI buying in Indian shares rises  to highest ever in
2023     https://tmsnrt.rs/3H7EZOI
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by
Sohini Goswami and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
 ((bharath.rajeswaran@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9769003463;))