Domestic benchmarks erased early gains on account of mixed global cues and ended tad higher on Tuesday, amid heavy buying in banking and financials. Extending gains for the third straight session, the S&P BSE Sensex ended 44 points higher at 38,843. The Nifty 50 index closed mere 5 points higher at 11,472. Yesterday, the S&P BSE Sensex ended 364 points or 0.95% higher at 38,799. The Nifty 50 index closed 94 points or 0.83% at 11,446.
Sectorally, gains in banking, financials, media and auto were capped by losses in realty, pharma, metal and FMCG stocks. Where Nifty bank and PSU Bank gained over 1% each, realty index dropped over 2% today. IndusInd Bank, followed by SBI, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, M&M and Maruti were among the top gainers on the Sensex pack. On the other hand, HCL Tech, Nestle India, UltraTech Cement and Tech Mahindra were among the laggards.
Earlier at the opening bell, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 150 points higher at 38,932, while Nifty 50 index traded 44 points up at 11,510. However, domestic benchmarks erased gains within a few minutes of trade and turned flat with positive bias as overseas, Asian indices turned mixed amid rising coronavirus cases.
India reported more than 60,000 cases for the seventh straight day, taking the death toll to 58,546 and total coronavirus cases stood at 31.67 lakh as of Tuesday. Worldwide, there were 238 lakh confirmed cases and 8.17 lakh deaths from COVID-19 outbreak.
Amid volatility in the equity market, Indian rupee that opened 15 paise higher gave up gains and ended flat at 74.32 per dollar, as against yesterday's close of 74.31, after hitting day's low of 74.51 per US dollar.
Global markets
Asian markets that traded higher early morning turned mixed by the afternoon session. While bourses in Tokyo and Seoul were traded with gains, those in Shanghai and Hong Kong fell into the red territory. As per market analysts, traders turned cautious ahead of the release of US new home sales data and US central bank speech scheduled today.
Wall Street indices closed higher on optimism of potential medical advances in the war against the coronavirus pandemic after US FDA approved plasma therapy for COVID treatment. Driven by vaccine hopes, European markets also traded in the green, tracking overnight gains from the US.
Technical Insights
Nifty50 - the benchmark index traded above the crucial support level of 11350 but resistance was observed at 11,406 and 11,440 levels.
Commenting on markets closing today, Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments said," The market was in a see-saw mood all of today. We travelled in a narrow range of 50-70 points throughout the day but the bias remained positive until closing time. We are still aiming at reaching the 11,700 mark during the course of the next couple of weeks and 11,300 continues to remain the support for the Nifty."
On the near term outlook for market indices, Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking said, "The recent buoyancy in the banking space is helping the index to inch higher while other index heavyweights are seeing a pause. We reiterate our bullish view on markets and suggest continuing with the 'buy on dips' approach."
"Nifty closed almost flat on Aug 25; but this hides the fresh momentum in the hitherto neglected Bank stocks. Focus is now shifting back to largecaps," said Deepak Jasani, Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities.