Markets Edge Up In Lackluster Session

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ticked higher for the second straight session in a volatile trade on Tuesday as investors turned cautious amid concern over geopolitical tensions. However, intense buying in blue-chips Reliance Industries, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services and unabated foreign capital inflows supported the domestic market. The 30-share BSE benchmark gauge climbed 70.01 points or 0.09 per cent to settle at 80,288.38. During the day, it jumped 442.94 points or 0.55 per cent to 80,661.31. The NSE Nifty ended marginally up by 7.45 points or 0.03 per cent to 24,335.95.

“After showing a sustainable upside bounce on Monday, Nifty shifted into a consolidation with a small high-low range on Tuesday and closed the day higher by 7 points. After opening on a positive note, the market was not able to continue with the morning gains and slipped into minor weakness from the highs in the early part of the session. It later shifted into a range-bound action for the better part of the session,” said Nagaraj Shetti, senior technical research analyst at HDFC Securities.

The BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.23 per cent and smallcap index went up marginally by 0.09 per cent.

“The market exhibited largely range-bound oscillation, as caution prevailed amid geopolitical concerns over border tensions. The sustained inflows from FIIs provided support to market sentiment and restricted further pessimism. Meanwhile, mixed Q4 results have raised the risk of downward revisions to FY26 projections,” Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Investments Ltd.

“Markets traded lacklustre and ended nearly unchanged in the absence of any significant trigger. After an initial uptick, the Nifty moved in a narrow range and closed flat,” Ajit Mishra - SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

From the Sensex firms, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, Eternal, HCL Tech, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Bajaj Finserv were the biggest gainers. In contrast, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the laggards. Among sectoral indices, BSE Focused IT rallied 1.23 per cent, IT (1.13 per cent), capital goods (0.94 per cent), teck (0.76 per cent), industrials (0.70 per cent) and consumer durables (0.60 per cent).