Key indices drift lower in volatile trading

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty ended marginally lower in highly volatile trade on Tuesday as losses in IT and auto stocks were largely offset by gains in banking and financial shares amid mixed global trends.

Profit booking by cautious investors ahead of F&O expiry on Wednesday also dented the sentiment. The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 40.14 points or 0.07 per cent lower at 57,613.72 as 19 of its stocks declined and 11 advanced. The index opened higher and further climbed 295.59 points or 0.51 per cent to touch a high of 57,949.45. It, however, failed to hold onto the gains and fell to a low of 57,494.91 later. The broader NSE Nifty closed lower by 34 points or 0.20 per cent to finish at 16,951.70 after gyrating between 17,061.75 and 16,913.75. As many as 32 Nifty stocks declined, 17 advanced and one closed unchanged.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said: “Indian markets continued to stay in the grip of bears as investors remained cautious in expectation of further tightening from the RBI. Nifty small and mid-cap stocks continued to underperform due to fall in investors risk appetite and FY23 tax harvesting.”

“Nifty witnessed yet another day of range-bound price action. It consolidated between 16,900 and 17,100 for the third consecutive day,” Jatin Gedia, technical research analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

“Amid volatile moves in intra-day trades, key indices ended marginally lower and under-performed most of its Asian peers. Barring gains in select banking and metal stocks, other sectors witnessed profit-taking as caution prevailed ahead of the F&O expiry on Wednesday,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 890.64 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.79 per cent and midcap index went lower by 0.42 per cent. Among the indices, services dropped 2.77 per cent, telecommunication went lower by 1.60 per cent, relaty fell by 1.17 per cent, utilities (1.06 per cent), teck (0.94 per cent), commodities (0.89 per cent) and IT (0.85 per cent). However, financial services, bankex and metal ended in the green.

Adani Entertainment, Adani Ports, Tech Mahindra, HeroMotoCorp and Tata Motors were among major Nifty losers. Among the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra and UltraTech Cement were the biggest laggards. IndusInd Bank, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Reliance Industries, HDFC and Tata Steel were the prominent winners.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Japan and Hong Kong ended in the green, while Shanghai closed marginally lower. European equities were trading in positive territory during the afternoon trade. The US markets ended on a mixed note on Monday. The 30-share BSE benchmark climbed 126.76 points or 0.22 per cent to finish at 57,653.86 on Monday. The Nifty advanced 40.65 points or 0.24 per cent to end at 16,985.70. Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.50 per cent to $78.51 per barrel.