Sensex up 100pts, at 81,150, Nifty higher at 24,800; Metal, IT, Auto down

Indian benchmark equity indices, after opening on a muted note, were ahead slightly on Tuesday.

At 10 AM, the BSE Sensex was up 216 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 81,266, and the Nifty 50 was at 24,837, up 41 points, or 0.17 per cent.

At market open, more than half the stocks on the BSE Sensex were trading in the red. Loses were led by Tata Steel (down 3.35 per cent), followed by Tata Motors, Power Grid Corp., JSW Steel, and HCLTech, while the top gainers were Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.57 per cent), followed by Hindustan Unilever, SBI, UltraTech Cement, and Axis Bank.

On the Nifty 50, 29 of the 50 stocks were trading in the red. Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.33 per cent), followed by Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, SBI, and Larsen & Toubro, were the top gainers, while loses were capped by Tata Steel (down 3.57 per cent), followed by Tata Motors, Hindalco Industries, JSW Steel, and BPCL.

In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap 100 was down 0.13 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 was flat.

Meanwhile, across sectors, the Metal index was the biggest loser, down 2.80 per cent, while Auto, IT, Pharma, PSU Bank and Realty indices were also trading lower.

In contrast, the Nifty Bank, Financial Services, FMCG, and Private Bank indices were trading higher.

Global stocks also began Tuesday on a cautious note while oil prices stayed elevated as the escalating conflict in the Middle East sapped risk appetite ahead of China’s highly anticipated reopening after a long holiday.

The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield held above 4 per cent in early Asia trade, as a robust US labour market prompted traders to heavily scale back their expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts.

Hezbollah on Monday fired rockets at Israel’s third-largest city, Haifa, and Israel looked poised to expand its offensive into Lebanon, one year after the devastating Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

Heightened fears of a widespread conflict and disruptions to supply sent Brent crude futures surging above $80 a barrel for the first time in over a month in the previous session.

It was last 0.09 per cent higher at $81.00 per barrel, while US crude futures rose 0.14 per cent to $77.25 a barrel.

Investors in India would also keep an eye on the counting of votes for assembly elections in the state of Haryana and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, on Friday, benchmark equity indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 gave up their initial gains to settle in the red on Monday, led by a sell-off across sectors.

The BSE Sensex shed 638.45 points, or 0.78 per cent, to settle at 81,050.

Similarly, the Nifty 50 fell 218.85 points, or 0.87 per cent, to end at 24,795.75.

Midcap, and Smallcap stocks were the worst hit in the broader markets, with Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices ending down by 2.01 per cent, and 2.75 per cent, respectively.

The fear index (India VIX) ended 6.74 per cent higher at 15.08.

All sectoral indices, barring the Nifty IT index, ended in the red on Monday.

The PSU Bank, and Media indices were the worst hit, ending lower by over 3 per cent each. This was followed by OMCs and Metal indices, which fell by over 2 per cent.

That apart, Bank Nifty, Financial Services, Private Bank, Realty, Consumer Durables, and indices ended lower by over 1 per cent each.

The dour mood kept stocks on tenterhooks on Tuesday.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.05 per cent, while Asian stocks were mixed.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 index gained more than 10 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite index climbed over 6 per cent, after markets there re-opened after a week-long holiday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.01 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down nearly 4 per cent.

Australia’s stock benchmark was down 0.08 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.78 per cent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares climbed 0.4 per cent.

S&P 500 futures tacked on 0.03 per cent while Nasdaq futures lost 0.01 per cent.

Before the break, China announced its most aggressive stimulus measures since the pandemic, in a move which sent the CSI300 soaring 25 per cent over five sessions and sparked a rally across global share markets.

Focus will also be on a press conference from the country’s National Development and Reform Commission on Tuesday, for further details around the stimulus pledges that drove the market frenzy.

The US dollar failed to get a further lift on the revised Fed expectations, having already had a strong run last week also owing to safe-haven gains linked to the Middle East conflict.

It was on the back foot in early Asia trade, falling 0.17 per cent against the Japanese yen to 147.97, while sterling rose 0.03 per cent to $1.3089.

Against a basket of currencies, the greenback eased 0.02 per cent to 102.44, though it hovered near a seven-week high hit on Friday.

Elsewhere, spot gold was little changed at $2,643.33 an ounce.