Market Wrap, April 9: SENSEX, NIFTY50 slip 1% on ceasefire worries; SMIDs outshine; IndiGo, Jio Financial top losers

The Indian stock market snapped its five-day winning streak and settled lower on Thursday, April 8, dragged by banking stocks. The market investors remain cautious amid Iran-US ceasefire worries.

A fragile two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran that had raised hopes for the safe reopening of the Strait of Hormuz appeared to falter Thursday after Israeli strikes in Lebanon. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Thursday claimed that shipping through the narrow waterway slowed sharply and eventually stopped after large-scale Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

The broader market, however, outperformed the main equity benchmark indices and settled with gains. The Nifty Bank slipped 1.58% to close at the 54,821.70 level.

According to exchange data, on Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹2,811.97 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹4,168.17 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading lower on Thursday as investors resorted to profit booking after a massive rally in the previous session.

Japan's Nikkei declined 0.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.18%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.73% and South Korea's KOSPI fell 1.38%.

On Wall Street, the main indices joined the global rally as investors cheered the two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran announced by President Donald Trump.

The S&P 500 index surged 2.51%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 2.85%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.8%.

Here are the key developments of Thursday's session that you need to know

As many as 3,323 stocks traded on the NSE on Thursday. Out of this, 1,573 advanced and 1,670 stocks declined, while 80 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of declines.

A total of 59 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 11 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 163 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 19 touched their lower circuit bands on Thursday.

The market capitalisation of NSE-listed firms stood at ₹443.97 lakh crore at the close of the session.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 20.43 levels, rising 3.7%.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Private Bank (-1.75%) and Nifty PSU Bank (-1.27%) led the losses. Nifty Media (-0.8%), along with Nifty Auto and Nifty Oil & Gas (-0.39% each), also featured among the top five laggards.

Meanwhile, Nifty Metal (1.25%), Nifty Pharma (0.66%) and Nifty IT (0.22%) were the only sectoral gainers.

The broader markets outshined the main equity indices as the Nifty Smallcap 100 index surged 0.17% to close at 16,566, while the Nifty Midcap 100 index ended at 56,978.75, gaining 0.32%.

On the NIFTY50, 21 stocks ended in the green, while 29 declined on Thursday.

IndiGo operator InterGlobe Aviation was the biggest laggard, declining 3.61%, followed by Jio Financial Services (-3.19%), Larsen & Toubro (-2.89%), Shriram Finance (-2.7%) and Eternal (-2.47%).

On the flip side, Hindalco Industries (3.3%), Bajaj Auto (1.62%), Bharat Electronics (1.59%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (1.56%) and NTPC (1.48%) were the top gainers on the 50-share index.