Market Displays Mixed Trades; Nifty, Sensex Sluggish

The Indian stock market traded in a fluctuated manner in the Tuesday trading session. The benchmark indices closed at a fresh-high with slight gains. As the Union budget lingered market participants turned cautious before taking fresh bets.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 index ended 0.11 per cent higher at 24,613 whereas the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex settled 51 points or 0.06 per cent higher at 80,716 levels on the closing bell. 

Nifty Moves

In the Nifty50 index, 29 stocks advanced in the positive territory, while 21 stocks ended in the red territory.

Among the winners, government PSUs Coal India and BPCL topped the index with 2.95 per cent and 2.66 per cent gain respectively. Hindustan Unilever rose 2.6 per cent on its divestment in water purification business. Tata Consumer and Bharti Airtel also gained more than 2 per cent.

Among the losers, Shriram Finance, Dr Reddy and Kotak Mahindra bank shredded more than 2 per cent each. Ultratech Cement, NTPC, Hindalco and Reliance lost more than 1 per cent each.

Analyst Note

“Markets were range-bound throughout the session as investors continued to trade with caution ahead of the Budget announcement while weak European and Asian cues also weighed on the sentiment. There are a lot of expectations from this Budget and investors don't want to rush into buying stocks, and hence they are in a wait and watch mode,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities. 

Sectoral Movement

In terms of sectoral performance, Nifty Bank slipped 0.11 per cent higher, whereas Financial Services fell 0.18 per cent. Further, PSU Banks fell 0.25 per cent. 

However, Nifty Realty soared 1.66 per cent followed by almost 1 per cent gain in FMCG. Nifty IT and Auto gained 0.6 per cent and 0.25 per cent respectively, while Metal and Pharma dropped 0.08 per cent and 0.38 per cent respectively. 

The more domestically focussed indices, Mid-cap and Small cap also displayed a mixed trade and ended flat and 0.08 per cent higher respectively.