Sensex slips for 3rd day, ends 237 points down; HDFC duo top drags, ITC up 2%

Bear-hammering continued on Dalal Street for a third straight day on Wednesday as profit booking in banks and financial stocks weighed on the sentiment. The S&P BSE Sensex closed at 58,339 levels today, down 237 points or 0.4 per cent, while the NSE Nifty shut shop at 17,476, down 55 points or 0.31 per cent. In the intra-day deals, the benchmark indices had hit lows of 58,291 and 17,457 levels, respectively.

HDFC, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Tata Motors, PowerGrid, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Bank, Titan, Cipla, and Eicher Motors were the top laggards on the Nifty index today, down between 1 and 2 per cent. On the upside, ONGC, Apollo Hospitals, Sun Pharma, ITC, UPL, JSW Steel, and Shree Cement added in the range of 1 to 3 per cent.

Meanwhile, in the broader market, the BSE MidCap index slipped 0.21 per cent but the BSE SmallCap index added 0.27 per cent.

Among sectors, the Nifty Private Bank index was the worst hit as it dipped 1 per cent. On the upside, the Nifty Metal index gained the most, rising 0.57 per cent.

Hotels & Restaurants related shares were in demand. Royal Orchid Hotels zoomed 10 per cent. Lemon Tree Hotels and Taj GVK soared nearly 5 per cent each. Others like, EIH, Chalet Hotels and, Asian Hotels and Indian Hotels were also in demand.

Crude Oil, Natural Gas stocks traded firm. ONGC and Selan Exploration were up nearly 3 per cent each following the sharp 7 per cent rally in Crude Oil prices. Oil India and Aban Offshore were also up a per cent each. Crude oil prices increased around 7 per cent on Tuesday amid reports indicating lower supply by oil producers and easing of lockdown curbs in parts of China.

Hariom Pipes made a strong debut and zoomed 46% against issue price. The stock was locked in the upper circuit at Rs 224.70, up 46% against its issue price of Rs 153 per share on the BSE.

Shares of Poonawalla Fincorp (formerly known as Magma Fincorp) hit 52-week high of Rs 343.75, after rallying 8 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade on healthy earnings hopes.

Shares of Mrs. Bectors Food Specialities slipped 10% on heavy volumes. The stock has underperformed the market in the past 3-6 months after reporting a weak set of numbers. In comparison, the benchmark index was down by less than 4 per cent during the same period.

Shares of Anand Rathi Wealth zoomed 16 per cent to Rs 711.95 on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade after the company reported strong results with its profit after tax (PAT) and operating profit more-than-doubling in the March quarter.

Here are some picks from the week gone by.