Indian benchmark equity indices ended marginally lower on Tuesday as profit booking in the second half of the trading session, weak cues from Asian markets and caution ahead of the release of the US Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes weighed on investor sentiment.
The BSE Sensex declined 104.35 points, or 0.13 per cent, to settle at 78,180.72, while the NSE Nifty 50 fell 31.65 points, or 0.13 per cent, to close at 24,398.70.
Market experts said investors remained cautious amid weakness across Asian markets and ahead of the release of the US Fed minutes, which are expected to provide cues on the future trajectory of interest rates.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments Limited, said profit booking emerged in the latter half of the session as weak Asian market sentiment and caution ahead of the US Fed minutes weighed on the markets.
“However, IT stocks continued to lend support, extending gains ahead of the June-quarter earnings season as the sector recovered from recent corrections,” he said.
Nair added that with concerns over the US-Iran conflict and trade tariffs easing, investor focus has shifted towards Q1 FY27 corporate earnings and the progress of the monsoon. He also said improving foreign institutional investor (FII) inflows and a stable rupee are expected to provide near-term support to the broader market.
Among sectoral indices, Nifty IT was the only gainer, rising 2.43 per cent on optimism ahead of the June-quarter earnings season.
Other major sectoral indices ended lower, with Nifty Realty falling 1.73 per cent, Nifty Metal declining 1.14 per cent, Nifty Pharma slipping 0.76 per cent, Nifty Media losing 0.75 per cent, Nifty PSU Bank shedding 0.47 per cent, and Nifty Auto closing 0.12 per cent lower.
Among the Nifty 50 stocks, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, SBI Life Insurance and Titan were the top gainers, while Trent, Adani Enterprises, Bharat Electronics (BEL), Adani Ports, Max Healthcare and TMPV were among the major losers.
In the commodities market, Brent crude rose 1.18 per cent to USD 72.86 per barrel at the time of filing.
Asian markets mostly ended lower during the session, reflecting cautious investor sentiment, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index bucked the trend to close higher.
-ANI
