Sensex, Nifty close flat after hitting fresh lifetime highs; ICICI, Airtel biggest drag

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty hit fresh lifetime high levels before closing flat due to profit-taking in select banking and telecom shares amid mixed global cues on Tuesday.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 34.74 points or 0.04 per cent to settle at 79,441.45 in a volatile trade. During the day, it jumped 379.68 points or 0.47 per cent to hit a record peak of 79,855.87.

The Nifty declined by 18.10 points or 0.07 per cent to 24,123.85. Intra-day, it climbed 94.4 points or 0.39 per cent to hit a lifetime high of 24,236.35.

Among the Sensex pack, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India and Titan were the biggest laggards.

Larsen & Toubro, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies and Tata Steel were the biggest gainers.

"The domestic market took a breather, resonating with the mixed global trend, with the ECB showing caution regarding further rate cuts. Recent spikes in US Treasury yields and a gradual rise in crude oil prices are affecting market trends," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Investors are closely monitoring the progress of monsoon, the forthcoming Union budget, alongside the US election, which can have potential global economic implications, Nair added.

On Monday, the BSE benchmark settled higher by 443.46 points or 0.56 per cent at an all-time peak of 79,476.19. The Nifty climbed 131.35 points or 0.55 per cent to settle at a fresh lifetime high of 24,141.95.

"Markets had touched fresh highs in early trade on fresh optimism but failed to capitalise on it and slipped into the red. Weak European cues coupled with a negative sentiment in Dow Futures fuelled profit-taking in banking, telecom and auto shares," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge declined 0.57 per cent while smallcap index went up marginally by 0.07 per cent.

Among indices, telecommunication declined 1.31 per cent, bankex (0.91 per cent), auto (0.74 per cent) and financial services (0.67 per cent) were among the major laggards.

IT, capital goods, realty and teck were the winners.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory on Tuesday, while Seoul ended lower.

European markets were trading down. US markets ended in the green on Monday.

India's gross GST collection increased 8 per cent to Rs 1.74 lakh crore in June, sources said on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.66 per cent to USD 87.17 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 426.03 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.