Profit booking drags Nifty lower by 1.5%

20 Dec 2023 Evaluate

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Wednesday’s trading session in a negative terrain, dragged by losses in PSU Bank and Metal stocks. Index made an optimistic start, as market participants took encouragement with the finance ministry stating that tax reforms, a sharp hike in capital spending without weakening fiscal discipline and robust public digital infrastructure are among a raft of steps initiated by the Modi government that would help India emerge as a $5-trillion economy. Some support also came in as International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board said Indian economy is likely to log 6.3% growth in FY24 and FY25 on the back of macroeconomic and financial stability.

However, in afternoon session, index cut all of its gains and entered into red terrain as traders opted to book profit at higher levels. Sentiments also remain dampened on report of rise in Covid-19 cases in the country. India saw an uptick in Covid-19 cases, with 614 fresh infections recorded in the past 24 hours, the highest since May 21. The surge in cases is due to the Covid sub-variant, JN.1, which was first detected in Kerala.

All the sectorial indices ended in red. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Voltas, AU Small Finance Bank and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. On the other hand, the top losers were Indiabulls Housing Finance, Indus Towers and India Cements. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 21400 - 21600 calls and 20900 - 21100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

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