Sensex, Nifty trim gains but still in green; TCS, Infosys surge, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank slip

Domestic equity markets began Tuesday’s session with gains, looking to add to their 2-day gaining spree. S&P BSE Sensex jumped over 200 points on opening to gain more than half a percent, while the 50-stock Nifty was just shy of the 11,300 mark.  However, minutes after opening Sensex plunged marginally while Nifty was still above 11,250 mark. Volatility was 1.32% lower at 19.31 levels. On opening the midcap and small cap indices were outperforming the benchmarks but soon that changed with the midcap indices slipping to trade flat with a negative bias. 

Global watch: Among Asian equity markets, Shanghai Composite was trading with gains, while Hang Seng was down in the red. Stock markets in Japan were trading with losses but South Korean share markets were inching higher on Tuesday morning. 

Volatility slips: The fear gauge of the domestic equity markets or the India VIX was seen inching closer to 19 levels after giving up 20 levels during Monday’s trading session. Slipping volatility signals increasing investor confidence in the stock market. India VIX opened at 19.57 but was soon down at 19.22 levels.

Top gainers: On opening bell Asian Paints and Tata Steel were the top gainers. But, soon the top spot was taken by TCS which jumped close to 3%, Infosys, Asian Paints and Titan followed close. Adani Green Energy and Natco Pharmaceuticals were the top Midcap gainers surging 5% and 4% respectively. Among BSE Small Cap constituents, Speciality Restaurants were up over 7% followed by Electrosteel Casting shares that were up 6%.

Top drags: Among the top drags on the benchmark were ONGC, IndusInd Bank, and Bharti Airtel. On BSE Midcap index, KIOCL Ltd, BHEL, and Mphasis were the top losers. On the smallcap index, Mangalam Organics Limited, Brightcom Group, and Reliance Communications were the top drags. 

Broader markets give up lead: The midcap and small cap indices on BSE and NSE were outperforming the benchmark on opening bell, however, soon they were seen slipping behind. BSE Midcap and Small cap indices were up 0.25% while the benchmark Sensex was up over 0.31%. On NSE, the Midcap 50 and 100 indices were flat.

Technical take for the day: “We are at a critical juncture – the resistance level range of 11300-11350 is not very far from the current price level. This could be a turning point for the Nifty; we could reverse from here to resume the downtrend we saw last week or we could break out of this level to see higher price points. On the upside, the markets can rally to 11700-11800. On the downside, we could go to 10700-10800,”said  Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.