Market Movers: Financials bleed, Bharti Airtel bucks trend; 47 stocks blink sell

MUMBAI: Financials dragged the benchmark equity indices lower on Wednesday, in sync with a weakness in global markets. Nifty formed a long bear candle, indicating lack of respite for bulls after a day of upside bounce.

Analysts believe that 11,650 will be a crucial support zone for the market, and if this support breaks decisively on the downside, then one may expect sharp downside momentum in the near term.

Benchmark Sensex dropped 1.48 per cent to 39,922.46 points, while peer Nifty declined 1.34 per cent to 11,729.60 points.

Among stock-specific action, telecom major Bharti Airtel bucked the trend and climbed as it narrowed its losses for the September quarter. Despite the carnage, 88 stocks managed to scale 52-week highs as well.

Here is a lowdown on what happened in Wednesday’s trade:

Financials bleed
Financials contributed the most to Sensex's losses. Mortgage lender HDFC dropped 3.44 per cent to Rs 1,969.05, while top private lender HDFC Bank shed 2.27 per cent to Rs 1,205.55, and peer ICICI Bank declined 3.34 per cent to Rs 396.15.

Bharti Airtel jumps
Bharti Airtel climbed 4.26 per cent to Rs 451.45 after the telecom operator reported highest-ever sales in the September quarter, and narrowed its year-on-year losses. The stock also saw a volatile streak after National Securities Depository (NSDL), which increased telecom operators’ foreign ownership limits (FOL) to 100 per cent from 49 per cent on Wednesday morning, later clarified that Bharti’s foreign investment limit for the time being will be monitored at 49 per cent.

Promoter action: Adani Transmission
Promoter Adani Tradeline revoked the pledge on 22,41,000 shares of Adani Transmission on October 27. The stock shed 0.88 per cent to Rs 285.75.

Stocks that hit 52-week high
A total of 88 stocks scaled 52-week highs on the BSE. These included Adani Green Energy, Angel Broking, Asian Paints, CG Power and Likhitha Infrastructure, among others.

Stocks that hit lower circuit
As many as 217 stocks dropped by their daily limit on the BSE. These included Himatsingka Seide, Future Enterprises, Indiabulls Integrated Services, 8k Miles, and Salora International, among others.

Stocks that flash sell
47 stocks flashed ‘sell’ signals on BSE, as they slipped below the Signal Line on the MACD indicator. These included State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, DLF, HDFC Bank and JSW Steel, among others.

Where is Nifty headed?
Nagaraj Shetti, technical research analyst, HDFC Securities, pointed out that the market struggled to sustain the gains made on Tuesday and signal a dicey outlook ahead.

He was of the view that any sustainable move above 11,600 for Nifty could bring bulls back into action towards 11,900. “A decisive move below 11,600 could mean a sharp downside breakout in the market. Important lower support is placed around 11,650-11,600 levels and immediate resistance is now placed at 11,850,” he added.