Equity benchmarks ended marginally lower today amid losses in HDFC twins, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank. Sensex slipped 52.94 points to 52,275 and Nifty declined 11.55 points to 15,740.
Top Sensex losers were SBI, HDFC twins, Kotak Bank, PowerGrid and ICICI Bank falling up to 1%. Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Infosys and HCL Tech were the top Sensex gainers rising up to 2.53% on BSE. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 16 ended in the red.
However, midcap and smallcap indices ended 85 points and 228 points higher on BSE in today'session.
Market cap on BSE rose to a record high of Rs 229.01 lakh crore
Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities said,"On Wednesday, below the level of 15,670, Nifty would drop to 15620 or 15580 levels. On the higher side, Nifty would rally if it manages to surpass 15800 levels. The index faces resistance at 15800, 15880 and 15950 levels. The focus should be on Pharmaceuticals and Technology companies."
BSE bankex index was the top loser falling 385 points to 39,846.
On the other hand, BSE IT index ended 390 points higher on BSE.
Among other sectoral losers were metal stocks with BSE metal index declining 262 points to 18,770.
On Nifty's future outlook, Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Senior Technical Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas said, "Nifty had a lackluster session on June 8. The hourly momentum indicator has been showing loss of momentum for the last few sessions.
Thus the index seems to be taking a pit stop after a strong rally in the last three weeks. Today, it tested a rising trendline on the hourly chart & the 20 HMA & traded there throughout the day. Thus today's low of 15680 becomes a crucial near term support.
If that is breached, then the index can slide down to fill up a gap of 15,597-15,611, which was created recently on the daily chart. So traders need to maintain the cautiously bullish stance."
Market breadth was positive with 1,837 shares rising against 1,366 stocks falling on BSE.
Meanwhile, rupee depreciated by 9 paise to close at 72.89 against the US dollar on Tuesday, tracking a strong dollar overseas and subdued sentiment in the domestic equities.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened slightly up at 72.78 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 72.76 and a low of 72.90.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Hong Kong ended in the red. Stocks exchanges in Europe were trading with gains in mid-session deals.
International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.53 per cent lower at $71.11 per barrel.