Markets trade cautiously; Sensex near 61,300, Nifty 50 around 18,290; Auto outperforms; Maruti, SBI, M-;M top bulls; HCL Tech worst hit

17 Jan 2022 , 10:22 AM

Indian markets traded nervously on Monday with benchmark Sensex and Nifty 50 with marginal ups and downs. Auto stocks outperformed the broader markets indices, while consumer durables, capital goods and oil & gas stocks further added substantial gains. Metal and pharma stocks were top laggards in the early deals. Investors react to major macroeconomic data.

In the domestic economy, investors reacted to India's CPI inflation which has reached a five-month high, while its counterpart WPI Inflation eases in December 2021, halting a four-month spike. Meanwhile, the country's factory output was at a nine-month low in November 2021.

Furthermore, in the third wave, India showed a marginal improvement in active Covid-19 cases today with 2.58 lakh cases - lower by 5% than the previous day.

Also, December 2021 (Q3FY22) quarter has further influenced domestic equities.

On the global front, investors traded cautiously as they assessed the outlook over the upcoming rate hikes spree from the US Federal Reserve. Also, the latest data indicated that China's economy slowed at the end of 2021.

At around 10.13 am, Sensex was trading at 61,284.66 up by 61.63 points or 0.10%. The index has touched an intraday high and low of 61,360.99 and 61,107.60.

Nifty 50 performed at 18,286.50 higher by 30.75 points or 0.17%. The index has clocked an intraday high and low of 18,304.45 and 18,228.75 respectively.

In terms of sectoral indices, on BSE, the Auto index skyrocketed nearly 535 points. While the Metal and Healthcare, index dipped nearly 295 points and 195 points.

Bulls on Sensex were - Maruti Suzuki, SBI, M&M, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance, TCS and Bharti Airtel.

Bears on Sensex were - HCL Tech, Dr Reddy's Lab, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Ultratech Cement, HDFC Bank and Sun Pharma.

Companies that will announce their Q3 today are - UltraTech Cement, Angel One, HFCL, Sonata Software, Tata Steel Long Products, Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem, Advik Capital, Arfin India, Artson Engineering, Bhansali Engineering Polymers, Fineotex Chemical, Goodluck India, Hathway Cable & Datacom, KIC Metaliks, KP Energy, KPI Global Infrastructure, Maharashtra Scooters, Moschip Technologies, Poddar Pigments, Tiger Logistics (India), and Vikas EcoTech.