LIVE: Markets close lower, Maruti Suzuki cautious about growth

Maruti Suzuki CFO Ajay Seth in the earnings call for Q1FY21, says that it is too early to conclude if the demand the company is seeing is real demand, or pent-up demand post lockdown
Markets closed lower today. Nifty 50 closed at 11197.20 (-103.4, -0.9%) , BSE Sensex closed at 38071.13 (-421.8, -1.1%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 9093.70 (-48.1, -0.5%). Market breadth is in the green. Of the 1655 stocks traded today, 826 were on the uptrend, and 734 went down.
Mindtree, now with majority ownership from L&T, is looking to reclassify the company's former promoters as ordinary shareholders in one year, since they quit their company roles following the takeover. The largest promoters, Natarajan and family and Subroto Bagchi and family own nearly 5% and 4.5% respectively.
Castrol India gains today despite posting a 64% decline YoY on net profit growth for the June quarter.
Markets are jittery today ahead of the US Federal Reserve decision on interest rates. While a move into negative interest rates is not expected, the Fed, analysts say, may be considering limits on short term Treasury yields, or other measures.
Dr. Reddy's strong performance in the June quarter on healthcare demand has pushed the company's share price to a fresh year high.
Marico's Saffola growth was an outlier in an otherwise muted domestic performance, and HDFC Securities recommends a SELL.
Markets are volatile in early trading. Nifty 50 was trading at 11329.90 (29.4, 0.3%) , BSE Sensex was trading at 38511.96 (19.0, 0.1%) while the broader Nifty 500 was trading at 9176.65 (34.9, 0.4%). Market breadth is ticking up strongly. Of the 1483 stocks traded today, 979 showed gains, and 422 showed losses.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include Adani Gas Ltd. (157.05, 7.49%), Endurance Technologies Ltd. (947.00, 6.64%) and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (4300.30, 6.14%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include Au Small Finance Bank Ltd. (746.40, -5.00%), Reliance Industries Ltd. (2089.90, -4.03%) and Piramal Enterprises Ltd. (1418.00, -3.48%).

Crowd Puller Stocks

24 stocks in BSE 500 are trading on high volumes today.

Top high volume gainers on BSE included Tata Coffee Ltd. (93.50, 12.24%), Meghmani Organics Ltd. (63.50, 10.34%) and Adani Gas Ltd. (157.05, 7.49%).

Top high volume losers on BSE were Sheela Foam Ltd. (1353.00, -5.66%), Nestle India Ltd. (16669.95, -2.49%) and Bajaj Holdings & Investment Ltd. (2699.95, -0.78%).

Esab India Ltd. (1411.00, 5.72%) was trading at 14.4 times of weekly average. Westlife Development Ltd. (356.10, 1.57%) and Repco Home Finance Ltd. (153.10, 4.97%) were trading with volumes 14.0 and 8.2 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

12 stocks hit their 52 week highs,

Stocks touching their year highs included - Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (4300.30, 6.14%), Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd. (771.75, 5.00%) and MindTree Ltd. (1066.00, 1.33%).

28 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Capri Global Capital Ltd. (184.00, 15.91%) and Tata Coffee Ltd. (93.50, 12.24%). 12 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including Sheela Foam Ltd. (1353.00, -5.66%) and Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd. (74.95, -4.46%).