Sensex gains for 4th straight day, ends 149 pts higher; Nifty50 closes near 18,000

NEW DELHI: Benchmark indices continued to rally forward notching the fourth consecutive day of gains on Tuesday. However, the upside was limited by weak global cues and some weak Q2 numbers by domestic companies.

There was a lot of activity in the PSU banking space along with auto stocks that were in good demand. Profit booking continued in IT names, but small and midcap spaces were buzzing with accumulation across sectors.

The 30-share pack Sensex rose 148.53 points or 0.25 per cent to close at 60,284.31. The index gyrated in a range of 450 points. Its broader peer NSE Nifty advanced 46 points or 0.26 per cent to 17,991.95.

“Following the selling in IT stocks as a result of a weak start to the earnings season and weakness in global markets, the domestic market traded in the negative zone. While global markets traded with cuts in fears of rising inflation due to soaring commodity prices and energy crunch,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Market at a glance:

• Delta Corp ends 5 per cent up after cutting losses by half
• Tata Motors continues its rally to the 4th day, adds over 1 per cent
• Radico Khaitan zooms 15 per cent after launching 2 new products
• India VIX, a barometer of volatility, slips over 1 per cent
• Tinplate Company closes 2 per cent down as it cancels board meet

Among the bluechip names, Titan was the top gainer, rising 6.08 per cent. Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finserv, SBI, Divi’s Labs, Hindalco, Hero MotoCorp, Eicher Motors and Nestle India were other gainers.

HCL Tech was the top loser in the Nifty pack, falling 3.74 per cent. HDFC Life Insurance, Coal India, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cements and Shree Cement were others that ended in the red.

Broader market indices ended higher, outperforming their headline peers. Nifty Smallcap rose 0.80 per cent and Nifty Midcap advanced 0.55 per cent. Nifty 500, the broadest index on NSE, ended up 0.35 per cent.

EID Parry, Infibeam Avenues, TV18 Broadcast, Endurance Technologies, Bata India and National Aluminium were top gainers from mid and smallcap indices, climbing in the range of 6-9 per cent.

Chambal Fertilisers, Suzlon Energy, KEC International, Torrent Power, Tata Communications and Prestige Estate Projects were major losers from broader market space, falling in the range of 2-5 per cent.

European markets were trading lower. London-based FTSE was down 0.43 per cent while Paris and Frankfurt declined 0.52 per cent and 0.31 per cent, respectively. In Asia, barring Thailand and Indonesia, all ended in the red.