D-Street ends another week in the red amid a lack of triggers

Indian equities fell 0.2% on Friday, erasing an intraday gain of nearly half a percent on Friday, and ended the weekend—a second straight weekly loss—as investor sentiment softened due to a lack of triggers after RBI monetary policy. Analysts said the Nifty may continue to trade in a range in the near term.

The NSE Nifty 50 fell 0.2% or 49.85 points to close at 23,366.70, while the BSE Sensex fell 0.2% or 116.67 points to 74,243.34. Both indices fell to 0.8% this week, after falling to the same level last week.

“Monetary policy was in line with expectations, but in the absence of triggers, the earnings season and policy are now behind us,” said Sunny Aggarwal, head of fundamental research at SBI Securities.

Agarwal said the removal of tax on government securities for foreign investors has given partial relief to investors and raised hopes of tax relief for equities.

Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth ₹8,776.25 crore on Friday, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹9,133.57 crore. So far in June, foreign investors have sold shares worth ₹25,831.5 crore.

The India VIX Volatility Index fell 0.6% to 15.8 after rising 3% intraday on Friday, indicating slightly lower risk perception.

“Investors turned cautious ahead of the week and large-caps remained under pressure due to continued overseas selling, but the decline was largely part of market volatility,” said Nilesh Jain, VP-head of technical and derivatives research at Centrum Finvers.

Jain said the Nifty could trade in the range of 23,150 to 23,700 in the near term, facing hurdles at the higher end of the band.

Out of 4,399 shares, 1,993 advanced and 2,212 declined. The Nifty Midcap 150 index fell 0.3%, while the Nifty Smallcap 250 closed marginally higher.

“The Nifty was dragged down this week by IT stocks and may consolidate with downside limited to 23,200-22,700 levels in the near term,” Agarwal said.