Indian stock markets struggled for gains today, a day after Sensex hit a new high. The Sensex and Nifty remained little changed at 40,127 and 11,879 respectively. The broader markets were however firm with BSE midcap index and small cap indices up about 0.5% each. Yes Bank shares were down 3% ahead of its Q2 earnings later in the day. Yes Bank shares had rallied 24% on Thursday after the lender disclosed that it has received a binding offer of $1.2 billion from a global investor as the private-sector lender looks to raise capital through a fresh issue of shares.
Bajaj Auto shares were up 0.30% after the company reported a 9% year-on-year decline in October sales to 463,208 units. Its domestic sales fell 13% to 278,776 units.
Analysts say that in the near term markets may see some consolidation after the recent rally. The Sensex has risen in eight of the past 10 sessions, hitting a new high of 40392 on Thursday.
“For this month, we are of the view that Nifty may trade in the range of 11700 and 12100. Our strategy should be to buy on declines, while focusing on private banks, NBFCs and infrastructure companies. Profit-taking should emerge in select auto companies,” said Shrikant Chouhan, senior vice-president at Kotak Securities.
Rohit Singre, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities, said that Nifty has support near 11840-11780 zone and resistance near 11950-1200 zone. “But current chart structure still looks promising for bulls hinting dip can be bought with keeping stop out level below 11,700 zone,” he added.
Data released on Thursday showed India’s fiscal deficit reached nearly 93% of the budget estimate at the end of September in the current financial year. “Though alarming, the governments efforts at strategic sale of PSUs could reduce this,” HDFC Securities said in a report.
The core sector for the month of September contracted by 5.2% from 0.5%contraction seen in August.
Asian shares reversed early losses and were mostly higher today after a private survey showed China’s manufacturing activity expanding last month
