Indian shares ended lower on Tuesday after snapping a six-session winning streak in the previous session as investors took a pause ahead of key economic growth and fiscal deficit data due later in the day.
The gross domestic product data due today will show if demand wilted in the final three months of last year following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise decision to ban high-value currency notes.
A Reuters poll of 30 economists taken over the past week showed economic growth slowed to 6.4 per cent annually in the October-December quarter.
“Only if growth falls below 5.5 per cent or rises above 6.5 per cent, would there be some need to re-assess India's growth trajectory in the period ahead,” Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note.
Foreign capital outflows too affected the market sentiment. Foreign funds sold shares net of Rs 145.55 crore yesterday as per the provisional data issued by stock exchanges.
The Sensex ended 69.56 points or 0.24 per cent lower at 28,743.32 while the NSE Nifty lost 17.10 points or 0.19 per cent at 8,879.60.
Nifty gainers :
BHEL (+6.09%), Bharti Airtel (+3.61%), Asian Paints (+2.38%), YES Bank (+2.12%) and Hindalco (+1.96%).
Nifty losers :
Grasim (-3.36%), BPCL (-2.72%), Coal India (-2.47%), Tech Mahindra (-1.74%) and Bajaj Auto (-1.57%).
Shares of Bharti Airtel rose as much as 4.9 per cent in the day's trade after the telecom network operator said on Monday that it would scrap national roaming charges from April 1.
“Overall, the domestic market has gained quite a bit in the last few sessions. With no major trigger due immediately, markets will be rangebound in the next couple of days,” said Siddharth Purohit, a senior research analyst with Angel Broking.
Caution prevails
Caution is in the air as market players tracked the much—awaited US President Donald Trump’s address to the Congress later in the day, which can throw light on tax reforms and infrastructure spending.
Another record closing on the Wall Street on Friday and a firm trend in Asia kept mood positive.
Idea Cellular managed to close higher after falling nearly 6.5 per cent in early trade following reports that Providence Equity Partners is likely to exit the telecom firm by selling its 3.33 per cent stake.
However, some action was witnessed in broader markets, with the smallcap index rising by 0.59 per cent and mid—cap 0.14 per cent.
Selling in auto stocks
Stocks of automobile companies such as Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors saw selling activity and lost up to 1.56 per cent ahead of monthly sales figures for February to be released on Wednesday.
Coal India, NTPC, TCS, ICICI Bank, ITC Ltd, ONGC, Axis Bank, PowerGrid and HDFC were other laggards.
However, buying in select stocks such as Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Adani Ports, M&M, Lupin, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, SBI and Infosys capped the downside.
Foreign capital outflows also affected market sentiment.
Foreign funds net sold shares worth of Rs 145.55 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.
Other Asian markets ended mixed as key indices like Hong Kong and Singapore fell while Japan’s Nikkei and the Shanghai index moved up.
In Europe, London’ FTSE, Paris CAC 40 and Frankfurt lost in their early session.
In the domestic market, 20 scrips out of the 30—share Sensex ended lower.
Oil and gas fell 1.34 per cent, followed by PSU, FMCG, IT and auto. Realty, capital goods, metal and power went up by up to 1.44 per cent.