Benchmark indices ended lower for the sixth consecutive session; All the sectoral indices closed in red except IT; Broader market indices closed lower by over 2 percent

POST-MARKET REPORT

The Indian benchmark indices ended lower and extended the losing streak for the sixth consecutive session on October 7 amid selling across the sectors, barring information technology.

At close, the Sensex was down 638.45 points or 0.78 percent at 81,050, and the Nifty was down 218.80 points or 0.87 percent at 24,795.80.

The biggest Nifty losers included NTPC, Adani Ports, Adani Enterprises, SBI, and Coal India, while gainers were ITC, Bharti Airtel, Trent, M&M and Infosys.

Except IT index (up 0.6 percent), all other sectoral indices ended in the red with PSU bank, healthcare, capital goods, realty, metal, power, oil & gas, media, and telecom down 1-3 percent.

BSE Midcap index was down 2 percent and Smallcap index was down over 3 percent.

STOCKS TODAY

Natco Pharma: Natco Pharma advanced 3.4 percent in the morning trade on the back of a settlement order in the United States patent case over generic Ozempic products. The company announced that Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Novo Nordisk have settled the US patent litigation related to generic Ozempic.

AU Small Finance Bank: The stock gained 1.7 percent after it reported healthy loan and deposit growth for the July-September quarter which sent its shares 3 percent higher in trade. The lender’s total deposits grew 12.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 1.1 lakh crore. Its CASA deposits increased by 10.9 percent.

NBCC: The PSU stock jumped 3 percent on October 7 as the stock traded ex-bonus. Today also marks the record date for determining shareholders eligible to receive the bonus shares. The PSU had announced a bonus issue in a 1:2 ratio, granting one new fully paid-up equity share of Re 1 for every two existing shares held.

LTIMindtree: The stock rose 2.2 percent after JP Morgan upgraded LTIMindtree to an ‘overweight’ rating, with a target price of Rs 6,900 per share. This indicates an upside of 13 percent from the previous closing pricẹ. LTIMindtree is a good proxy play to the banking and financial services in the US and other geographies.

Kalyan Jewellers: Shares fell around a percent as investors rushed to book profits off the stock after the company released strong Q2 business updates. The 40 percent run-up in the stock in the past three months gave investors plenty of leeway to take home partial profit.

Mphasis: The stock rose around a Mphasis bagged a similar upgrade from JP Morgan, with a target price of Rs 3,400 per share, implying a 19 percent upside for similar reasons. Mphasis has a 59 percent exposure to the US BFSI space.