Equity markets settle flat in volatile trade; IT stocks play spoilsport
Investors also preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s interest rate decision later this week, traders said.
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MUMBAI: Equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and Nifty closed marginally higher in a volatile session on Tuesday as fag-end buying in auto, industrial and commodity stocks helped the indices extend gains for a third straight day.
Investors also preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s interest rate decision later this week, traders said.
After a see-saw session, the 30-share BSE Sensex eked out marginal gains of 5.41 points or 0.01 per cent to settle at 62,792.88. During the day, it hit a high of 62,867.95 and a low of 62,554.21.
The NSE Nifty went up by 5.15 points or 0.03 per cent to end at 18,599. “Markets remained volatile and ended almost unchanged amid mixed cues. After the flat start, the Nifty drifted lower as the day progressed. However, a sharp recovery in the last half an hour trimmed all the losses. Eventually, Nifty settled closer to the day’s high at 18,599 levels,” said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd.
UltraTech Cement was the biggest gainer in the Sensex chart, climbing 3.13 per cent, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Maruti, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance and Mahindra & Mahindra.
In contrast, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, HCL Technologies, ICICI Bank and Nestle were among the laggards.
“While the markets ended flat, buying was seen in rate-sensitive stocks like banking, auto and realty ahead of the RBI’s MPC meet later this week. With expectations rising that the central bank could once again take a pause on rate hikes, hopes of steady interest rates going ahead triggered optimism in the rate-sensitives,” Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research (Retail), Kotak Securities, said.
In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.42 per cent and the midcap index gained 0.29 per cent.
Among the indices, IT fell 1.66 per cent, teck (1.51 per cent), metal (0.45 per cent), oil & gas (0.08 per cent) and FMCG (0.02 per cent). Realty jumped 1.25 per cent, auto climbed 1.10 per cent, commodities (0.74 per cent), capital goods (0.61 per cent), and healthcare (0.59 per cent).