Benchmark indices closed lower on Tuesday amid profit-booking and concerns regarding elevated crude prices.
The market opened on a muted note amid weak global cues after Monday’s sharp rise. Indices closed lower, dragged by heavyweight financials, tracking losses in heavyweights such as HDFC twins.
The BSE Sensex closed at 60,176.50, down 435.24 points or 0.72 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 60,786.07 and a low of 60,067.18. The Nifty 50 slipped below the 18,000 mark to close at 17,957.40, down 96.00 points or 0.53 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 18,095.45 and a low of 17,921.55.
Breadth remains positive
The market breadth remained positive with 2,347 stocks advancing on the BSE as against 1,054 that declined while 106 remained unchanged. Furthermore, 30 stocks hit the upper circuit as compared to the 14 stocks that were locked in the lower circuit. Besides, 173 stocks touched a 52-week high level and 10 touched a 52-week low.
Rising crude prices and inflation concerns impacted market sentiments.
Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking, said, “Markets took a breather after yesterday’s surge and ended lower. After the flat start, the benchmark hovered in a range and ended around the day’s low. Amid all, sectoral indices traded mixed wherein profit booking in banking & financials dragged the indices lower. However, buying in power, consumer durables and FMCG packs capped the downside.”
“Markets may consolidate after the recent surge and it would be healthy. However, there’ll be no shortage of trading opportunities, thanks to scheduled events like MPC’s monetary policy review meet and the beginning of the earnings season,” said Mishra.
Adani Ports, NTPC, Tata Motors, Powergrid and Tata Consumer were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC,Kotak Bank and IndusInd Bank were the top laggards.
Consumer durables, FMCG, auto in focus
On the sectoral front, a majority of indices closed in the green. Financials — barring PSU Bank and realty — dragged while auto, FMCG and consumer durables gained.
Nifty Financial Services was down 1.58 per cent at closing while Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank were down 1.47 per cent and 1.53 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, Nifty PSU Bank was up 0.47 per cent.
Nifty Consumer Durables was up over 2 per cent at closing. Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG were up over 1 per cent each.
Broader indices outperform
Broader indices closed higher, outperforming the benchmarks.
Nifty Midcap 50 was up 1.09 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 1.19 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 1.28 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was up 1.37 per cent.
The volatility index rose 3.23 per cent to 18.49.