Sensex falls 350 pts from day's high, Nifty below 24,450: Key reasons behind markets turning flat

Stock benchmarks Sensex and Nifty nearly gave up their gains and were trading flat on July 7 due to various reasons, including profit booking. Sensex fell 350 points from day's high while Nifty was trading near the 24,450-mark.

At 1:14 pm, the Sensex was up 31.09 points or 0.04% at 78,316.16, and the Nifty was up 7.20 points or 0.03% at 24,437.55. About 1,364 shares advanced, 2,341 shares declined, and 178 shares were unchanged.

Profit booking was seen in markets after a rally that was on course for fifth straight day.

The Nifty 50 and the Sensex added 2.4% each over the last four sessions to notch their highest close in 10 weeks, led by banks after first-quarter updates showed solid loan growth.

2) Fall in metal, realty shares

The fall in the markets was led by metal, realty shares. In the afternoon trade, metal index was trading 1% lower while the realty index declined 1.6%.

Analysts said Nifty has to decisively cross 24,500-mark for further upmove in the markets.

"A sustained breakout above the 24,500 levels could set the momentum toward the 25,000-25300 zone. On the flip side, a breach of the 23,600 support zone may trigger profit booking, potentially dragging the index toward the 23,000-22,800-22,500 range," said Axis Securities.

"Yesterday’s close above 24,400 has improved the chances of the much anticipated 24,800-25,250 move. But as cautioned yesterday, spikes to 24,600 region might attract some rejection trades. With the prospects of volatility and upside objectives thus outlined, we will go in today with downside marker placed at 24,360 until 24,600 is seen," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.

Most stock indices in Asia ended lower Tuesday, with only benchmark equities in Singapore and Indonesia ending higher. Concerns related to sustainability of the artificial intelligence-driven rally likely dampened market sentiment. South Korea's headline index, KOSPI, was down almost 5%, leading losses in the region after index heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co. forecast its operating profit for the quarter ended June to rise 19-fold on year.

Stocks fell as volatility hit chipmakers anew after blowout earnings from Samsung Electronics Co. left investors wanting even more. Bonds fell as oil rose by the most in more than a week.

The world’s biggest memory maker by market value slumped 7.5% in Seoul. Its quarterly profit surged 19-fold and operating profit beat projections by about 8%, but failed to wow investors, sending peers across the region tumbling. Europe’s Stoxx 600 rose 0.1%. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.8%, with SpaceX joining the index on Tuesday. S&P 500 contracts dipped 0.2%.