Stock Market Update: Profit Booking Seen in Friday Session, Key Sector Moves in Focus

Today marks the last trading session of the week, and the market opened with mild weakness. Gift Nifty is seen trading in profit booking mode, down by about 43 points. In contrast, Asian markets are showing positivity—Nikkei is up by nearly 350 points, while Dow Jones futures are also trading in the green.

At present, Gift Nifty is at 25,472, which is significantly higher than Thursday’s Nifty 50 closing of 25,423, reflecting a net gain of around 40–50 points. Despite this, the overall sentiment remains mildly negative due to end-of-week profit booking.

Thursday’s Market Recap

On Thursday, both Nifty 50 and Bank Nifty opened with a gap-up but later filled those gaps and closed near the day’s high. Analysts note there are no structural negative signals in the market. Even if today’s session sees mild declines, it should not be considered a major negative since profit booking is natural on the last trading day of the week.

Top Gainers and Losers (Thursday)

Top Gainers (F&O Segment):
- Biocon: +4%
- LIC Housing: +4%
- HFCL: +3.5%
- L&T Finance: nearly +3%
Top Losers:
- Page Industries: -2.5%
- Coal India: -1.5%
- Tata Chemicals and Prestige Estate were also among the laggards.

Gold, Silver & Rupee Update

Gold: Corrected slightly after touching 1,13,585.00 Indian Rupee levels; mildly negative yesterday.
Silver: Recently touched around ₹1,30,000, now correcting from ₹1,29,000+.
Indian Rupee: Continues to remain weak, now at ₹88 per USD.
- Pre-Covid: ₹65/USD
- During Covid: ₹75/USD
- Current: ₹88/USD
  Despite talks of “de-dollarisation,” experts believe only China is making serious attempts by aggressively accumulating gold, which is why global gold prices remain elevated.

Nifty 50 Levels to Watch

Thursday’s Close: 25,424 (up 93 points)
Resistance Levels: 25,500 – 25,600
Support Levels: 24,350 – 24,250

Analysts advise mild caution today. After a strong 17-day run where Bank Nifty has risen in 12 out of the last 15 sessions, profit booking appears justified.

FII-DII Activity

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued mild buying yesterday. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) outpaced FIIs by nearly 10 times in net buying, strengthening market support.

Meanwhile, India VIX has slipped below 10 (currently at 9.88), indicating extremely low volatility. For perspective, during the Covid crash, VIX had spiked above 80, with Nifty falling 1,000 points in a single session.

Key Corporate Developments

Adani Group: SEBI has given a clean chit, which was widely expected but still positive for shareholders.
Barbeque Nation: Rebranded as United Food Brands after 16+ years of operating under its original name, following a trend similar to Zomato rebranding itself as “Eternal.”
D-Mart’s Radhakishan Damani: Increased his stake in Zomato to 0.62%, seen as a hedge and strategic diversification.
Waaree Energies: Acquiring 76% stake in Resimosa Energy for ₹53 crore. Resimosa is engaged in manufacturing smart meters. Waaree aims to build a complete home energy solutions package around solar and power management.
Motilal Oswal Financial Services: Settled SEBI’s front-running probe by paying ₹34.85 lakh.
Cohens Life Sciences: Promoter offloaded 5.1% stake; SBI Mutual Fund and HDFC Mutual Fund purchased the shares. HDFC MF added 0.7% stake, taking its holding to 6.2%.
BNP Paribas: Bought nearly 77,000 shares of Gennova at ₹2,992, investing around ₹22.88 crore.
De Neers Tools: Promoters sold 4.92% stake after a strong rally, offloading 20 lakh shares at ₹68 each.

Geopolitical Update – Negative for India

India’s investment of about $120 million in Iran’s Chabahar Port faces a setback after the US revoked earlier sanctions exemptions. This development is particularly negative for Adani Ports, which already faces financial concerns.

F&O Ban List (Today)

In Ban: RBL Bank, Anjal, HFCL (re-entered after exiting Thursday).
Out of Ban: Olectra Greentech (OLECTRA).

Results Season

No major earnings announcements today. The result season will officially begin in about 12 days.

📌 Note for Traders: Stay cautious today as profit booking may continue, but unless structural changes appear on charts, the medium-term market trend remains intact.