The Sensex fell 104 points to close at 78,181, while the Nifty 50 declined 32 points to end at 24,399, slipping below the 24,400 mark. The Nifty Bank lost 91 points to settle at 58,201, while the Nifty Midcap Index underperformed, ending 186 points lower at 62,285 after falling more than 300 points from the day’s high.
What dragged the market lower?
The biggest drag came from stock-specific weakness across several sectors.
Trent plunged 12% after its first-quarter business update came in below market estimates, making it one of the biggest losers on the Nifty. Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, and BEL also featured among the top index laggards.
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In the broader market, Kalyan Jewellers declined more than 7% following its quarterly update, while Cochin Shipyard fell around 4% after the government announced a 5% stake sale through an Offer for Sale (OFS).
Premier Explosives, Kalyan Jewellers, Cochin Shipyard, and AB Fashion were among the top losers in the midcap space, contributing to the broader market weakness.
Which stocks bucked the trend?
Despite the weak market, several stocks posted sharp gains on company-specific developments. Titan rose around 3% after reporting a healthy first-quarter update, with its consumer business revenue increasing 41%.
Dharmesh Kant, Head Research, Chola Securities, on Titan and Trent, said, “It’s a very classic case study as far as Titan and Trent are concerned. Both belong to the same group. Titan, despite the large base it operates on, has been able to clock 40%-plus growth. Just to highlight, if you had bought gold 10 years ago, around this time in 2016, at about $1,300 an ounce, it would be up about 3.5x today.
But Titan’s stock price is up around 11x over the same period. So, rather than buying jewellery, if somebody had invested in the company, the returns would have been phenomenal. At the same time, the company has a very strong ROE of around 38-39% and is delivering close to 40% growth.
Typically, you can stretch to a PEG ratio of around two times, which still leaves room for another 15-20% upside. It’s a good value buy considering the way the company has evolved and grown its business in both India and overseas. As far as Trent is concerned, one thing is very clear: the unorganised-to-organised retail shift is still playing out.”
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Swiggy surged nearly 8% after foreign investment in the company fell below 50%. RITES jumped nearly 7% after securing a $35 million order from Volantis, while Varun Beverages slipped over 2% after its subsidiary announced the acquisition of Devyani Food Industries’ Kenya business for $32 million.
Sectoral trends
Among sectoral indices, Nifty IT emerged as the top performer, providing some support to the benchmarks. However, sharp declines in the defence and realty sectors outweighed the gains in technology stocks.
Market breadth also remained weak, with the NSE advance-decline ratio at 1:2, indicating that declining stocks significantly outnumbered advancing ones.
After four consecutive sessions of gains, Tuesday’s decline reflected profit booking and stock-specific selling, particularly in the broader market, even as IT stocks provided limited support to the benchmarks.
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From the Sensex basket, Infosys Ltd, Titan Company Ltd, SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd, Eternal Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Jio Financial Services Ltd were the major gainers.
Trent Ltd, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd were the biggest laggards.
