Markets end lower following rangebound trade; Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel drag Sensex into red

Midcap and smallcap indices fell more than the Nifty suggesting broader profit-taking

After ending marginally higher in the previous trade, Indian share markets again settled in the negative territory on Tuesday. The 30-share Sensex fell 380 points from day’s high and ended at 38,365, while the broader Nifty 50 index settled just above the crucial 11,300 level. Index heavyweights such as Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HUL contributed the most to the indices’ loss in today’s trade. Indian share markets gave up all the morning gains in the fag-end of the session. Analysts believe weak European markets lead to a mild sell-off post noon in Indian markets. “Volumes on the NSE were marginally below the recent average. Midcap and smallcap indices fell more than the Nifty suggesting broader profit-taking,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

Tata Steel top drag: Out of 30 Sensex stocks, 21 scrips finished their trade into the red. Tata Steel shares fell the most, down 4.13 per cent to end at Rs 405 apiece. It was followed by telecom major Bharti Airtel, which was down 3.36 per cent. Axis Bank, ONGC, Sun Pharma, NTPC, State Bank of India were other losers.

IT stocks lead Sensex gainers pack: Four of the top eight BSE Sensex gainers were from the Information Technology space today. HCL Tech and Infosys were the top Sensex gainers, up 1.69 per cent and 1.60 per cent, followed by Reliance Industries (RIL), up 1.18 per cent. Tech Mahindra, TCS, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto were among gainers on the index.

Nifty IT index hits 52-week high in intraday: Barring Nifty IT index, all the sectoral indices settled in the negative territory. During intraday, Nifty IT index hit a fresh 52-week high of 18,671.75. On the contrary, Nifty Media, Nifty Metal were down 3 per cent each and Nifty FMCG index too was down over half a per cent.

Broader market underperforms: Broader markets underperformed the headline indices. BSE MidCap index finished 1.49 per cent or 219 points at 14,483, while the BSE SmallCap index ended at 14,437, down 136 points or 0.93 per cent.

Market analyst’s view: “The recent rise in COVID cases in the past few days, fresh heating up of India-China LAC tensions may have triggered profit booking in the markets. Nifty is already trading at its highest trading multiples in terms of PE. So, any sign or news of potential uncertainty could drive short term profit-booking by traders,” said Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental), Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers.