Axis Bank only Nifty50 stock in the green as D-Street continues to slip for sixth day running

• Axis Bank is the only gainer in Nifty stocks after reporting a 10% increase in September 2023 quarter net profit.
• In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong are also quoting lower.
• Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance are top laggards.
• FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 4,236.60 crore on Wednesday.

Equity benchmark indices, the Nifty and the Sensex, declined sharply in morning trade on Thursday, continuing their weak momentum, amid negative trend in global markets and fresh foreign fund outflows. The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 502.5 points to 63,546.56. The Nifty fell 159.55 points to 18,962.60.

Axis Bank emerged as the only Nifty50 gainer after the firm reported a 10% increase in September 2023 quarter net profit to Rs 5,864 crore on higher interest income.

Among the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra traded nearly 3% lower after the company posted 61% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 505.3 crore for July-September period mainly on account of reduced spending by clients.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, Nestle and Titan were the other major laggards.


In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were quoting lower.

The US markets ended in the negative territory on Wednesday.

"There is risk-off in global equity markets triggered by a combination of economics and geopolitics. The Israel-Hamas conflict continues to be a major headwind for markets. If the conflict lingers for long it has the potential to impact global growth,too, when the global economy is already in the midst of a slowdown.

"In the near-term, however, the strongest headwind for the market is the stubbornly high US bond yields. With the 10-year bond yield at near 5% FPIs are likely to be in the sell mode," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Technically, due to weak market sentiments, the Nifty and the Sensex broke the important support level of 19,200/64,400 and formed a bearish candle on the daily chart, which is a negative indicator.

Elaborating on this, Shrikant Chouhan, Head – Equity Research at Kotak Securities said, "Due to two consecutive days of back-to-back selling, the markets are moving closer to the oversold zone. We advise investors and short-term traders to look for buying opportunities in select stocks between 19000 and 18900 levels. On the higher side, resistance will lie at 19180/19200 levels."

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.29% to USD 89.87 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,236.60 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark tanked 522.82 points or 0.81% to settle at 64,049.06 on Wednesday. The Nifty fell 159.60 points or 0.83% to 19,122.15.