Sensex, Nifty End Marginally Higher; Mid, Small Cap Shares Fall

The benchmark indices ended with marginal gains on Tuesday, amid volatility, on the back of buying in index heavyweights such as HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Reliance Industries. The benchmarks touched record highs during the session, with the Sensex rising as much as 377 points to hit an all-time high of 54,779.66 and Nifty 50 index touching a record high of 16,359.25. However, the Sensex turned volatile in the noon session to end 152 points or 0.28 per cent higher at 54,555 and Nifty 50 index advanced 22 points to close at 16,280.

The market turned highly volatile in the afternoon as valuations are getting frothy at record highs, leading to profit booking across the sectors, analysts said.

The broader markets under-performed the benchmark indices; the market breadth was extremely negative as 2,496 shares ended lower, while 762 closed lower on the BSE.

“16,200 is an important support level for Nifty in the short term and we can expect volatility as the Nifty tries to attain the new level of 16,500,” said Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, CapitalVia Global Research.

11 of the fifteen sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower, led by the Nifty Metal index’s over 3 per cent fall. Nifty PSU Bank, Media and Realty indices also fell 2-3 per cent each. Nifty Bank index also fell 426 points from the day’s highest level.

On the other hand, IT and financial services shares witnessed some buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares witnessed intense selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 1.2 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index dropped 2.5 per cent.

Bharti Airtel was top Nifty gainer; the stock rose over 4 per cent to hit a record high of Rs 628. Tech Mahindra, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tata Consumer Products, Divi’s Labs and Infosys were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, Shree Cements, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Power Grid, NTPC, Indian Oil, Grasim Industries, ITC, Bharat Petroleum and State Bank of India were among the losers.