Sensex, Nifty slip after firm start; Prestige Estates surges 8%, UltraTech Cement drops 3%

The benchmark indices opened higher on Tuesday but soon slipped into the red, led by selling in shares of Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Industries and , among others.

Less-than-expected results sent UltraTech Cement shares tumbling. Prestige Estates soared 8 per cent after clocking a two-fold jump in Q3 sales bookings.

Tech Mahindra advanced following its acquisition of a 25 per cent stake in two IT platforms, but the gains were limited. Goldman Sachs' positive view on Maruti Suzuki failed to lift the stock.

At 9.30 am, the BSE Sensex was trading 72 points or 0.12 per cent lower at 61,236.61. The NSE Nifty was trading 43 points, or 0.24 per cent, lower at 18,264.90.

"Nifty50 patterns continue to point towards 18,600 and beyond, while the vulnerability that has been in discussion lately does not seem potent to lead to collapse. At least not yet. Oscillators are near the upper bound but are less likely to force a pullback beyond 18,150-119, which is required to fancy a fall towards 17,600 level," said Anand James - Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Sun Pharma rose 1.07 per cent to Rs 832.35. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank added up to 1 per cent.

UltraTech Cement dropped 2.6 per cent to Rs 7,673, making it the worst Sensex performer. Weak margins and volumes in the third quarter resulted in an earnings downgrade.

Maruti Suzuki fell 2.48 per cent to Rs 8,059. Goldman Sachs has a target of Rs 9,100 on Maruti Suzuki. This brokerage is expecting investor focus to increase on the counter on pick up in new product launches. The foreign brokerage is expecting the first EV launch by Maruti before calendar 2025 and is expecting more investor focus on this topic, the carmaker's Q3 results.

Tech Mahindra gained 0.7 per cent to Rs 1,736.70. Brokerage Edelweiss Securities said CTC would help the IT firm gain scale in the eastern European region and that CTC’s deep domain capabilities will further strengthen Tech Mahindra capabilities. Motilal Oswal Securities, however, suggested a PAT accretion of less than 1 per cent to its FY23 estimates.

Shares of Prestige Estates surged 8.3 per cent as the realty firm reported over a two-fold jump in sales bookings at record Rs 4,267.6 crore for the quarter ended December. The company's sales bookings stood at Rs 2,026 crore in the year-ago period.

Asian markets were largely positive. Earlier in the day, the Bank of Japan upgraded its inflation forecasts and said risks to the price outlook were evenly balanced, in a nod to signs the recent commodity-driven rise in inflation was broadening.

But with inflation set to remain below its 2 per cent target in the coming years, the BOJ stressed its resolve to maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy even as its global counterparts move toward exiting from crisis-mode policies, Reuters reported.