Broader Markets Shine Even As Sensex, Nifty Struggle To Gain Ground

The domestic equity market showed mixed investor sentiment on May 27, as the broader market indices managed to stay afloat in the green even as the benchmarks Sensex and Nifty 50 ended lower. The Nifty Midcap 100 closed higher by around 0.15 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 settled up by 0.10 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Nifty 50 swinged sharply in both the directions before closing near the day’s low. The benchmark index opened flat at 24,956.65 but soon came under pressure, slipping to an intraday low of 24,704.10 as early selling dominated. A sharp rebound in mid-morning trade saw the Nifty 50 recover losses and climb to the day’s high of 25,062.90. However, renewed selling in the second half of the session led to another wave of profit booking, dragging the index lower to end at 24,826.20.

The Sensex also showed a similar trajectory and ended the session at 81,551.63, down by 624.82 points, or 0.76 per cent.

According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, the domestic market saw heightened volatility in today’s session as investors turned to profit booking due to valuation concerns and weakness in Asian markets. He noted that Nifty 50 once again struggled to decisively cross the 25,000 mark, which indicated a lack of strong positive triggers.

Nifty Midcap 100 Gainers & Losers

Pushing the Nifty Midcap 100 higher were stocks like Supreme Industries, Container Corporation of India, Bharat Dynamics, Bharti Hexacom, IDFC First Bank, Cochin Shipyard and Bandhan Bank, all of which gained in the range of 2 per cent to 5 per cent. Other midcap stocks from the index like Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Suzlon Energy, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Tata Technologies, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), and SBI Cards among others, also ended the day in green.

On the other hand, MRF, BSE Ltd, Muthoot Finance, Max Healthcare, and ACC were dragging the index, shedding over 1 per cent to 2 per cent each.

Nifty Smallcap 100 Gainers & Losers

From the Nifty Smallcap 100 index, ITI shared led the charge, jumping 10 per cent to get locked in at the upper circuit. It was followed by IFCI shares, which gained nearly 5 per cent. Other constituents of the index such as Titagarh Rail Systems, Reliance Power, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), CreditAccess Grameen, Triveni turbine, Aarti industries, Tata Chemicals and Zen technologies gained between 2 per cent to 4 per cent each.

On the losing side were FirstCry, which fell over 6 per cent, and Sagility India, which declined over 5 per cent. Other smallcap stocks like Action Construction Equipment (ACE), Narayana Hrudayalaya, Affle India, and Devyani International fell around 2 per cent to 4 per cent.

Why Broader Market Outperformed Benchmark Indices Today

According to Vinod Nair of Geojit, large-cap stocks lagged behind as they were pressured by muted foreign institutional investor (FII) activity and underwhelming earnings from key blue-chip companies. On the other hand, Nair said that the midcap and smallcap segments showed relative strength as they were supported by better-than-expected Q4 results and a cooling off in premium valuations.

Analysts at Centrum Equity Research, in a note dated May 27, said, “The early onset of the southwest monsoon and a decline in domestic bond yields have encouraged investors to maintain their focus on riskier assets.”