Nifty, Sensex trade flat in early trade on Thu, Feb 2; Adani Ent shares fall 10%, ITC shares hit 52-week high

Nifty, Sensex trade flat in early trade on Thu, Feb 2; Adani Ent shares fall 10%, ITC shares hit 52-week high

Indian equity benchmark indices were trading flat in the early morning session on Wednesday. NSE Nifty  50 fell 19.70 points or 0.11 % to 17,596.60 and BSE Sensex rose 12.28 pts or 0.02% to 59,720.36. The top gainers of Sensex were ITC (up 2.60%), IndusInd Bank (up 2.24%), UltraTech Cement (up 1.89%), Infosys (up 1.81%) and Maruti (up 1.20%) while Bajaj Finance (down 2.17%), Sun Pharma (down 1.72%), HDFC (down 1.54%), Tata Steel (down 1.60%) and NTPC (down 1.53%) were the top laggards.

ITC shares touched a 52-week high of Rs 374.90, rising 3.7% on Thursday. The company’s shares fell 6% on Wednesday but recovered within minutes after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hiked calamity duty on cigarettes and tobacco products by 16%. The market was largely worrying either a hike in excise duty or NCCD duty on cigarettes and tobacco products, as the last tax hike was announced three years ago. The Budget for FY21 had increased the National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) by 2-4 times across cigarette stick sizes, resulting in tax hikes of 9-15%.

Sectoral Indices

The sectoral indices were trading mixed. Bank Nifty fell 0.16%, Nifty FMCG rose 1.65%, Nifty IT climbed 1.24%, Nifty Pharma fell 0.76%, Nifty Auto up 0.20%, Nifty Oil & Gas down 2.27%, Nifty PSU Bank and Media rose 0.73% and 1.07% respectively.

Asian and US stock markets

Asian markets were trading broadly in green on Thursday. China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 9.59 pts or 0.29% to 3,294.51, Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 48.01 pts or 0.18% to 27,392.47, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 90,28 pts or 0.41% to 22,162.46 and South Korea’s KOSPI advanced 21.31 pts or 0.84% to 2,471.11.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth a net Rs 1785.21 crore while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased shares worth a net Rs 529.47 crore on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, according to the data available on NSE.

NSE F&O Ban

Ambuja Cements is the stock/security placed on the National Stock Exchange’s futures and options (F&O) ban for trade on Thursday, February 2. During the F&O ban period, no new positions are permitted for F&O contracts in that stock.