Equity markets commenced trading on Tuesday with a sluggish start, influenced by lacklustre global market trends and fresh foreign fund outflows. During early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped by 130 points to 72,660.13, while the Nifty recorded a decline of 36.4 points, settling at 22,085.65.
However, both indices managed to recover from their initial losses and showed marginal gains later in the session. The BSE benchmark was up by 10.30 points at 72,800.43, and the Nifty traded 8.85 points higher at 22,135.60.
Key stocks on the Sensex, including Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, and Reliance Industries, experienced significant declines. Conversely, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Wipro, and UltraTech Cement emerged as gainers.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong witnessed downward trends, while Shanghai saw positive movement. Meanwhile, US markets concluded Monday's session with slight losses. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) divested equities amounting to Rs 285.15 crore on Monday, as indicated by exchange data.
On the previous trading day, the BSE benchmark witnessed a decline of 352.67 points or 0.48%, settling at 72,790.13, while the Nifty fell by 90.65 points or 0.41%, closing at 22,122.05. Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd., anticipated heightened volatility during the week due to the expiry of Futures and Options (F&O) contracts.
Additionally, the global oil benchmark, Brent crude, experienced a slight decrease of 0.12%, reaching USD 82.43 per barrel.
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