Sensex and Nifty, the two prime equity benchmarks, on Thursday exhibited mixed trends as investors remained jittery regarding deep selloff in Adani Group stocks, despite an overall positive Budget 2023 tone, amid high volatility. The two domestic indices oscillated between gains and losses throughout the trading session.
The S&P BSE gained 224 points to 59,932. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 settled at flat at 17,610, down 6 points. The BSE Sensex hit day’s high and low of 60,007, and 59,215, respectively.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, ITC, IndusInd Bank, HUL, Infosys, Wipro, HCL emerged winners. On the flip side, NTPC, HDFC, Titan, Tata Steel, PowerGrid ended up in the losing side.
Among individual stocks, shares of ITC rallied 6 per cent to hit a new lifetime high level of Rs 384.40 as brokerages believe that the proposed tax hike on cigarette in the Union Budget 2023 is not very high and would be easily passed on through small price increases. Besides, shares of HDFC Life Insurance Company slipped 6 per cent to hit an over two-year low of Rs 483.10, on the back of heavy volumes.
In the broader markets, Nifty MidCap 100 and Nifty SmallCap 100 indices surged up to 0.5 per cent.
Sectorwise, Nifty FMCG and Nifty IT indices were best sectoral gainers, gaining up to 2 per cent. On the flipside, Nifty Metal index was the worst sectoral performer as it sank over 4 per cent.
In the previous session on Budget day, the S&P BSE Sensex ended 158 points down to 59,708, while the NSE Nifty50 closed at 17,616, down 46 points. The NSE Nifty oscillated 263 points in the session to end 46 points lower at 17,616. Nifty closes in the red on Budget day for the first time in three years.
