Nifty down 0.15%, Sensex down 0.10%

NSE Nifty was down by 0.15 per cent or 28.05 points at 22,379, while the BSE Sensex was at 73,796, down by 0.10 per cent or 66.96 points.

A total of 2,919 stocks were actively traded, 1,845 advanced, while 961 declined and 113 stocks remained unchanged, where 117 stocks hit a 52-week high and 6 stocks hit a 52-week low at 9.40 am on Thursday, on the BSE.

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Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “The overarching trend of this market is its bullishness despite negative triggers. The rising bond yields in the US ( the 10-yr continues above 4.6%) and geopolitical tensions are not impacting the market at all. During the last seven days FIIs sold equity worth a massive Rs 25853 crores. But the DII buying overwhelmed this FII selling and the market continued its upward momentum.

There are reports of Israel striking some sites linked to Hezbollah, but these will be ignored by the market unless it causes serious rector tensions.

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The Q4 results of Axis Bank are better-than- expectations and, therefore, the market will respond to that. The valuation of Axis is attractive. The regulatory restrictions on Kotak Bank will weigh on the stock. Since the VIX is at low levels, the market will not witness any serious corrections. In the near-term, consolidation is likely.”

Major gainers on the NSE include Axis Bank (4.40%), HCL Tech (1.11%), Eicher Motors (0.71%), Sun Pharma (0.61%), SBI (0.48%). Major losers include Kotak Bank(-11.69%), Tata Consumers (-2.32%), LTIMindtree (-1.84%), Hindustan Unilever (-1.16%), SBI Life (-0.99%)

BSE Smallcap was up by 0.40 per cent and BSE Midcap was up by 0.17 per cent indicating gains.