Bank stocks selloff drags down Nifty from all-time high

NEW DELHI: The Nifty reached a new record high of 19,567 intraday on Thursday, but couldn't hold on due to selling pressure, resulting in a significant decline by the end of the day, said Rupak De, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities.

Vikram Kasat, head advisory, Prabhudas Lilladher, said Nifty Index made a higher high in Thursday’s session, whereas the BankNifty Index is still significantly below the previous high, leading to inter-market divergence in the short term.

PSU banks suddenly fell by 2-4 per cent, mainly due to the Federal Bank's results which was slightly below the analysts estimate even though PAT rose by 42 per cent, he added.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said Thursday's domestic rally was supported by the contra bet buying of the IT stocks, which was supported by stable margins, new generation business opportunities and increase in pricing power due to moderation in US dollar, as latest US inflation is fast approaching the Fed’s target levels.

The broad market was trading positively at the all-time high level in anticipation of buoyant Q1 results and low volatility (VIX). However, a mixed start to bank earnings, coupled with ongoing concerns about domestic inflation, attracted bearish sentiment towards the latter half, he added.

Nifty opened gap up and touched new high of 19,567, but gave away to profit booking in the second half to finally close with marginal gains of 29 points at 19,413 levels, said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

The broader market, however, fell almost 1 per cent with mix trend among sectors. IT was the biggest gainer post good deal wins reported by TCS for Q1FY24.

However, on the domestic front, inflation came in at three-month high due to soaring vegetable prices which somewhat worried investors.

On the other hand, the primary market continues to do well with most of the IPOs over last one month getting good response, he added.

Going ahead, with the start of Q1FY23 earnings season, the market is likely to witness more stock specific action. In the near term, market may remain in consolidation mode though the undertone remains positive on the back of strong FII inflows, robust domestic macro-micro factors and expectation of normal monsoon, he said.