Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Thursday's trading session on a higher note, as investors went for value buying in the last hour of session. After making cautious start, soon index slipped into negative terrain, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, as lingering concerns about US lawmakers' ability to reach an agreement on increasing the U.S. debt ceiling continued. Sentiments remained down beat with Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) data showing that for the first time in a decade, the gross foreign direct investment (FDI) flows witnessed a decline of 16 per cent to $71 billion in FY23. In afternoon session, index continued its southward journey, as traders paid no heed towards Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that the growth for 2022-23 is expected to be more than the advance estimate of 7 per cent on the back of economic momentum maintained in the third and fourth quarters of the last fiscal. However, in last leg of trade, index made a recovery and ended near day’s high point, as traders went for beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, FMCG and Consumer Durables, while selling was witnessed in PSU Bank, Healthcare Index and Oil & Gas. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Indus Towers, Jubilant FoodWorks and IDFC. On the other hand, the top losers were Tata Chemicals, Ashok Leyland and Deepak Nitrite. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 18900 - 19100 calls and 17900 - 18100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
