Sensex peaks; closes bit lower as Re falls

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex surged to yet another all-time high, but closed modestly lower on Tuesday as investors offloaded IT, pharma and banking stocks at higher levels.

A sharp drop in the rupee, which lost 32 paise against the US dollar, further weighed on market mood, traders said.

Snapping its three-day rising streak, the 30-share BSE benchmark settled 17.43 points or 0.03 per cent lower at 58,279.48 points. Intra-day, it touched a fresh lifetime high of 58,553.07 points.

On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty fell 15.70 points or 0.09 per cent to 17,362.10 points. It scaled an all-time peak of 17,436.50 during the session.

"The domestic market traded with high volatility as investors locked in gains from the recent rally and global factors. However, the broad market maintained its buoyancy in segments, which are bound to benefit from unlocking.

European shares traded with cuts ahead of the European Central Bank's policy meeting on Thursday, where talks regarding the tapering of asset purchase program are likely to take place in the backdrop of rising eurozone inflation," said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

Ajit Mishra, V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd, adds: "In the absence of any major domestic event, global cues would continue to dictate market trend. Indications are in the favour of some consolidation or profit taking. Thus, we recommend maintaining extra caution in stocks selection. On the benchmark front, Nifty has immediate support around the 17,200-17,250 zone."

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 589.36 crore on Monday, as per provisional exchange data.

Sun Pharma was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, sliding 1.81 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, HCL Tech, Infosys, TCS and L&T. In contrast, HDFC led the gainers' list with a jump of 2.56 per cent.

Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, ITC, UltraTech Cement, Nestle India, Reliance Industries and Asian Paints were among the other winners.

Sector-wise, BSE realty, IT, utilities, oil and gas and power indices tumbled up to 2.24 per cent, while telecom, consumer durables, FMCG and energy finished in the green. In the broader markets, the BSE midcap and smallcap indices fell as much as 0.73 per cent.