Sensex, Nifty Edge Lower Dragged By Losses In IT, Pharma Shares

Nifty has an immediate resistance at 17,400. If Nifty closes above that, further upside can be expected towards 17,470-17,550 mark.

Abhishek Vasudev

Updated on: 18 February 2022 9:43 am

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Friday on the back of selling pressure in information technology, pharma and banking shares. Globally investor sentiment was nervous regarding evolving geopolitical developments between Russia and Ukraine. Most of the Asian markets were trading lower - Japan's Nikkei fell 0.51 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.53 per cent, Taiwan Weighted dropped 0.41 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI declined 0.35 per cent.

The Sensex fell 101 points to 57,790 and Nifty 50 index declined 69 points to 17,236 by 9:24 am.

"From last two days, Nifty is consolidating and taking a resistance of it’s 50 DMA. On technical grounds, Nifty has an immediate resistance at 17,400. If Nifty closes above that, further upside can be expected towards 17,470-17,550 mark. On the flip side 17,220-17,130 will act as strong support levels. It’s a stock specific market trade calls with strict stop loss," brokerage firm Nirmal Bang said.

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Ten of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Metal index's 0.7 per cent gain. Nifty PSU Bank, Realty, Private Bank, Media, Auto, Financial Services and Bank indices were also trading with a positive bias.

On the other hand, Nifty IT, FMCG, Pharma and Healthcare indices were trading with a negative bias.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a flat note as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.12 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 0.15 per cent.

Among the individual shares, Ambuja Cements fell as much as 4 per cent to Rs 344 after its net profit fell 55 per cent to Rs 431 crore in December quarter from Rs 968 crore in the same quarter last year.

Cipla was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 1.76 per cent to Rs 911. Wipro, ONGC, Hero MotoCorp, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Divi's Labs, Nestle India, Ultratech Cement and Tata Consumer Products also fell between 0.6-1.5 per cent.

On the flipside, Coal India, Larsen & Toubro, UPL, SBI Life, Tata Steel, Bharat Petroleum, NTPC, Hindalco and Power Grid were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,438 shares were declining while 1,292 closed higher on the BSE.