Following a series of sessions characterized by selling pressure, Indian equity benchmarks were able to close in the positive on Tuesday on the back of widespread buying even as the first-quarter earnings remained lacklustre.
The BSE Sensex closed the day at 81,337.95, up by 446.93 points or 0.55%. The index had opened lower at 80,620.25 against the previous close of 80,891.02. But momentum was gained during the session, with the index reaching an intra-day high of 81,429.88 due to heavy buying in heavyweight stocks.
The NSE Nifty 50 also saw gains, closing at 24,821.10 — up 140.20 points or 0.57%.
Market analysts pointed out that while chronic uncertainties around India-US trade talks remained, the local indices recovered from their intraday lows. Most sectors closed for the day in the positive, led by metal, pharma, and realty stocks. IT, FMCG, and financial stocks lagged, though, on lower-than-expected quarterly numbers.
Investors remained on guard ahead of significant global events, including the policy decision of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the approaching August 1 deadline for tit-for-tat tariffs between India and the U.S., analysts said.
Among the leaders on the Sensex were L&T, Adani Ports, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, and HCL Technologies. TCS, Axis Bank, and Titan were among the major laggards.
Positive movement carried on to the wider market as well. Nifty Next 50 rose 610 points or 0.91%, while Nifty 100 gained 158 points. Nifty Midcap 100 surged by 465 points or 0.81%, and Nifty Small Cap 100 posted a strong gain of over 1% at 186.70 points.
Sector-wise, all indices closed in the positive. The Nifty Bank index gained 137 points, Nifty Financial Services gained more than 85 points, and Nifty Auto gained 195 points.
In the currency markets, the rupee declined, falling 0.14 to close at 86.80 per U.S. dollar — down 0.16%. The fall was while the dollar index was trading near the 99 level, which blunted the effects of positive gains in local equities.
"While the August 1 US trade deal deadline was drawing near and major US releases — ADP Non-Farm Employment, Non-Farm Payrolls, Unemployment Rate, GDP, and the Federal Reserve policy statement — all scheduled this week, the forex market is set to continue being extremely volatile. The rupee would likely move in a wider range of 86.45–87.25," said LKP Securities' Jateen Trivedi.
Read also| India Accelerates Trade Deals—U.S. Faces Growing Pressure to Respond
