After a highly lackluster session in which the market saw just a brief spell in positive territory early on, the key Indian stock indices Sensex and the Nifty50 ended marginally down on Tuesday.Global cues were positive to start with, although not any significantly bright to warrant any strong buying. Concerns about imminent U.S. interest rate hikes, worries about the impact of new Visa policies of the U.S. government on the Indian IT sector and caution ahead of some crucial domestic and global economic data rendered the market sluggish. Optimism about rollout of GST from July 2017 helped limit the market’s downside.The BSE benchmark Sensex ended down 48.63 points or 0.17% at 28,999.56, after scaling a high of 29,098.17 and a low of 28,957.68 intraday. The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange, which declined to 8932.80, ended at 8946.90, recording a loss of 16.55 points or 0.18%.In the forex market, the rupee hit a four-month high against the U.S. dollar, strengthening to 66.59 a dollar. Around late afternoon, the rupee was trading at 66.66 a dollar, up 6 paise from its previous close of 66.72.Metal stocks were the notable losers. The BSE Metal index shed 1.79% and the Nifty Metal declined 1.75%. Hindustan Zinc, Hindalco, SAIL, Vedanta, MOIL and Tata Steel lost 2% – 3.7%. JSW Steel ended nearly 2% down. Bhushan Steel, Orissa Minerals, Nalco, Jindal Steel & Power and Welcorp also ended notably lower, while Coal India ended flat. NMDC (0.4%) and APL Apollo Tubes (2.2%) ended on a firm note.Among automobile stocks, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hero Motocorp and Mahindra & Mahindra declined 0.3% – 0.9%. Bajaj Auto ended marginally down, while Eicher Motors and Ashok Leyland posted modest gains.From the Bankex, Axis Bank, Federal Bank, Yes Bank and State Bank of India shed 0.6% – 1.3%. Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank edged down marginally, while IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank and Punjab National Bank ended slightly higher.From the Oil & Gas space, Oil India, Castrol India, Indraprastha Gas, Indian Oil Corporation and Petronet LNG ended lower by 0.5% – 1%. Reliance Industries ended flat and GAIL India gained 0.4%, while BPCL, ONGC and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation ended higher by 1.2% – 1.4%.Realty stocks Unitech, Indiabulls Real Estate, Phoenix, DLF and Omaxe closed weak, while Sobha ended 1.4% up. Godrej Properties, HDIL, Prestige and Oberoi Realty posted modest gains.Among IT majors, Tata Consultancy Services gained 1.4%, Wipro and HCL Technologies ended slightly up and Tech Mahindra declined marginally, while Infosys ended 1.4% down. Oracle Financial Services and KPIT Technologies posted modest gains and MindTree gained 3.7%.FMCG stocks Colgate Palmolive and Godrej Consumer Products ended notably higher. ITC and Hindustan Unilever ended flat, while Emami, Godrej Industries and United Spirits drifted lower.The market breadth was weak. Out of 3009 stocks traded on BSE, 1647 stocks declined. 1185 stocks advanced and 177 stocks ended flat.
December 24, 2024
