Indian stocks settle low on profit booking after recent highs

New Delhi, July 10: Indian stock indices settled lower today, though recovering some portion of its intra-day losses, due to profit booking.

Investors seemed to have resorted to profit-booking the latest stellar run, with both key indices touching fresh lifetime highs on Tuesday, and recently.

On Wednesday, the indices - Sensex and Nifty - closed half a per cent lower, respectively. A majority of the NSE sectoral indices were in the red today.

"Markets fluctuated sharply within a range and ended up losing nearly half a percent, wiping out the gains from Tuesday's session. After a flat start, Nifty plunged sharply in the early hours but a recovery in select heavyweights helped pare some losses as the day progressed," said Ajit Mishra - SVP, Research, Religare Broking.

"The intraday slide in the index has slightly dented sentiment, but resilience in certain pockets limited the damage."

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, "The Indian market experienced profit booking ahead of the upcoming earnings season. The expectations are muted given moderation in sales growth due to slowdown in the world economy and consolidation in margins driven by high inflation."

Additionally, the market is under temporary risk towards high budget expectations, which appears well factored in the last one month's rally, Nair said.

"Broader indices lagged large caps and FMCG sector, which are expected to drive momentum going ahead due to stable business outlook."

Sensex and Nifty have cumulatively accumulated 11-12 per cent returns so far in 2024-25. Strong buys by both foreign and domestic institutional buyers also have been supporting the stock markets.

Going ahead, market participants will actively monitor the policy decisions of the new government. Nirmala Sitharaman, who has been again allocated the finance ministry portfolio, and her fresh decisions will be widely tracked. She will present the full Budget for 2024-25 on July 23.