Sensex ekes out small gain, Nifty50 ends flat; 2 Adani stocks rally up to 9%

NEW DELHI: A smart intraday rebound helped equity benchmarks recover their initial losses on Friday. The recovery was powered by strength in select stocks, as three of every five Nifty50 constituents still ended in the red.

The broader market breadth was no better. Metals stocks were hit hard on China’s plan to sell metal reserves to check recent price hikes. SBI Cards tanked after Carlyle Group offloaded shares worth crores of rupees. Gaming stock Nazara Technologies fell on CLSA's 'sell' call. Select Adani stocks ended sharply higher.

At the close, the S&P BSE Sensex index stood at 52,344.45, up 21.12 points or 0.04 per cent. The 30-pack index plunged 722.22 points during the session before fully recovering those losses.

The Nifty50 gyrated in a wide range between 15,451 and 15,761 before settling at 15,683.35, down 8 points or 0.05 per cent. With this, the 50-scrip benchmark took its losses for three consecutive sessions.

“The market is running well above the historical average valuations. Clearly, the correction from these levels cannot be avoided,” Jigar Shah of Kim Eng Securities India told ET NOW. “There will be some correction, but the market appears to be in a bull phase, which may continue after some correction,” he added.

Midcap and smallcap indices fell up to 0.9 per cent. Sectoral indices such as power, metals and oil & gas dropped up to 2.5 per cent.

Select Adani Group stocks made a comeback on an otherwise weak day for Dalal Street. Adani Enterprises surged 8.76 per cent to Rs 1487.85 and Adani Ports gained 7.39 per cent to Rs 694.60 even as the other four group stocks fell up to 5 per cent.

SBI Cards & Payment Services plunged 4.3 per cent to Rs 1,005.70 as Carlyle Group probably sold its stake worth Rs 5,000 crore in the credit card company.

Shares of gaming company Nazara Tech plunged 8.84 per cent to Rs 1,517.85. Global brokerage CLSA initiated coverage on ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Technologies with a 'sell' rating, as it felt the prevailing valuations were hefty.

Among Sensex stocks, Hindustan Unilever rose 2.64 per cent to Rs 2,480.75. Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Finserv added 1.5-2.6 per cent. IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank and Titan advanced up to 1.1 per cent.

ONGC fell 3.72 per cent to Rs 120.35. NPTC, Power Grid, M&M and Nestle India dropped 2-3.2 per cent.