Sensex, Nifty end trading session on weak note as investors eye retail inflation data
Benchmark stock market indices ended lower on Tuesday, dragged down by a pullback in energy stocks ahead of retail inflation data, which will be released later in the day.
The S&P BSE Sensex fell 377.50 points to 69,551.03 at the closing bell, while the NSE Nifty 50 ended just over 20,900 after settling over 90 points lower. Most of the broader market indices also ended in negative territory.
Earlier in the trading session, the Nifty had hit a fresh record high in the first hour of trade, while Sensex had crossed the 70,000 mark for the second consecutive session.
The Nifty sectoral indices ended the session on a weak note, with losses in bank, energy and auto shares.
The top 5 gainers on the Nifty 50 were HDFC Life, Ultratech Cement, Bajaj-Auto, SBI Life and Axis Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were Apollo Hospitals, Sun Pharma, Maruti, Coal India and Eicher Motors.
Among other individual stocks, SpiceJet shares fell over 4 per cent after reporting a second-quarter loss on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Ultratech Cement gained 2.11 per cent, emerging as one of the top gainers on the Nifty 50.
Deven Mehata, research analyst at Choice Broking, said, “After a flat opening, the Nifty traded erratic today, reaching a new all-time high of 21,037.90 before correcting from higher levels and closing the session slightly above the 20,900 support level.”
Aditya Gaggar, Director of Progressive Shares, said, “Finally, bears had something to cheer for. Among the sectors, Media was the top performer followed by Metal; and, on the flip, Realty and Energy were the major laggards.”
“For the past couple of days, the Index has been trading with a negative divergence, and today, the Index breached its strong support level and made a bearish engulfing pattern at the record levels which suggests a short-term top has been made and a minor correction (profit-taking) can be anticipated. The immediate hurdle stands at 21,020 while the downside is protected at 20,760,” he noted.
