Selling in banking stocks erodes early gains

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex trimmed early gains to close marginally higher, while Nifty settled flat in choppy trade on Tuesday as gains in auto shares were offset by selling pressure in banking and energy shares. The 30-share BSE barometer closed slightly up by 37.08 points or 0.06 per cent to 60,978.75, with 15 of its stocks ending in green and the rest in red. The index opened higher and gained over 300 points to a high of 61,266.06 in early trade. The index, however, dropped over 400 points from the day's high to touch a low of 60,849.12 due to selling in select counters. The broader NSE Nifty closed flat at 18,118.30 with 29 of its shares ending in red and 21 in green. The 50-issue index touched a high of 18,201.25 and a low of 18,078.65 in the day trade.

"Mirroring robust global peers, the domestic market extended previous gains driven by auto stocks. However, due to selling pressure in banking shares, the indices anchored close to the flatline. Hopes of a soft landing of the US economy along with the anticipation of a lesser rate hike boosted global bourses," said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

Ajit Mishra, V-P (technical research), Religare Broking Ltd, said: "Stock markets ended almost unchanged in a volatile trading session in continuation of the prevailing consolidation phase. Auto and IT shares advanced while metal, realty and pharma declined. In the broader market." Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they sold shares worth Rs 760.51 crore, according to exchange data. BSE Midcap declined 0.3 per cent to 25,038.24 and Smallcap dropped 0.43 per cent to 28,422.45.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Metal fell by 1.21 per cent, Healthcare by 1.01 per cent, Realty by 0.95 per cent, Utilities by 0.82 per cent, Power by 0.78 per cent and capital goods by 0.75 per cent. On the other hand, BSE Auto gained 1.17 per cent, IT by 0.66 per cent, Consumer Discretionary by 0.71 per cent and Consumer Durables by 0.51 per cent.

Auto stocks were in focus prior to the earnings results of the sector major Maruti Suzuki India. Among major gainers, Tata Motors rose the most by 3.26 per cent. Maruti Suzuki India rose by 3.23 per cent after its posted a two-fold jump in net profit for the December quarter on robust sales. HCL Tech, HDFC twins, Asian Paints, IndusInd Bank, TCS and ITC were among the gainers.

Axis Bank declined 2.43 per cent a day after it reported its financial results. L&T, Reliance Industries, SBI, Kotak Bank, Tata Steel and Power Grid were major losers. Asian stock markets were also higher following overnight gains in US markets on expectations that the Federal Reserve will trim its rate hikes to tamp down inflation. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.5 per cent and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4 per cent. Many markets in Asia were closed for the Lunar New Year holidays. European stocks were mixed as the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.2 per cent, Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.4 per cent and Germany's DAX edged 0.1 per cent lower.