New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS): Domestic equities saw profit booking on the last day of the month ahead of GDP data and monthly FNO expiry. Overall, for the month of August Nifty closed lower with a loss of 2 per cent, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Broader market outperformed with the Nifty midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 up more than 3-4 per cent each for the month of August, he said.

Nifty opened flat and soon gave up its initial gains and closed with a loss of 94 points at 19,254. Except for Consumer Durables, Realty, and IT, all sectors ended in red for the day.

Apart from this, the capital market-related sector was in momentum.

Hotel stocks are continuously gaining momentum after a news report suggested that the number of foreign tourists arriving in India rose 106 per cent YoY during Jan-Jun'23. Also, various global events that are to be held in India support the demand in the hotel industry going forward, he said.

Investors await India's GDP data which will be released late evening for further direction.

After, poor US Q2 GDP data, investors would keep an eye on nonfarm payroll numbers. We expect the market to remain sideways on the back of mixed cues from global as well as domestic markets, he said.

Rupak De, Senior Technical analyst at LKP Securities said the overall sentiment remains pessimistic, with the likelihood of any upward rallies being met with selling activity.

On the downside, the initial support level is placed at 19,200. If the index falls below the 19,200 level, it could potentially move towards the 19,000 mark. The sell on rise strategy is expected to favour the traders until the Nifty convincingly surpasses the 19,500 level.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities said the Central government has convened a special session of Parliament for five days between September 18 and 22. Speculation will run wild about the agenda for this session, he said.