Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices on Tuesday (January 14) ended with moderate gains with the Sensex closing up 92.94 points or 0.22% at 41952.63, while the Nifty was up 30.80 points or 0.25% at 12,360.30. Major gainers on the Nifty were Vedanta, Britannia Industries, Hero MotoCorp, ITC, and Zee Entertainment, while Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, UPL, and Reliance Industries were top losers.
About 1440 shares advanced, 1036 shares declined, and 151 shares remain unchanged. Among sectors, FMCG index gained over 1 percent followed by metal, pharma, auto and IT. BSE Midcap and Smallcap Indices ended 0.7 percent higher.
Equity benchmark indices were flat during early hours on Tuesday. Investors also pondered over the possibility of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continuing with the status quo on key interest rates at its February meeting as inflation is likely to remain similarly elevated in January. Retail inflation print for December came at 7.35 per cent, up from 5.54 per cent in November.
The BSE S&P Sensex was down by 2 points to 41,858 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 6 points at 12,335. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty metal gaining by 1.3 per cent. Among stocks, Vedanta emerged as the top winner with gains of 2.5 per cent at Rs 164.55 per share. JSW Steel advanced by 1.8 per cent, Tata Steel by 1.6 per cent and Hindalco by 1.3 per cent. IT majors Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies were up by 1.4 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively. The other prominent winners were GAIL, Zee Entertainment, Cipla and Bharat Petroleum Corporation.
Yes Bank, however, continued with its southward trend and was down by 4.6 per cent to Rs 40.15 per share. The other losers included UPL, Ultratech Cement, Larsen & Toubro and ONGC.
Meanwhile, Asian shares hit a seven-month high with the Nikkei 225 and the Kospi climbing over 0.7 per cent each while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.1 per cent. The moves came as a Chinese delegation arrived in Washington ahead of Wednesday`s signing of the phase one trade agreement.
Europe`s markets were struck by a bout of weakness on Tuesday, as traders cashed in on recent record highs and waited for a long-awaited US-China trade deal and the first flurries of the Wall Street earnings season.
MSCI`s world stocks index set a new record high after reassuring Chinese data and Washington had said it no longer deemed Beijing a currency manipulator, but Europe`s open saw the currents turn.
Dealers struggled to put their finger on the exact cause but London, Frankfurt, and Paris all took an early dip to leave the regional STOXX 600 as much as 0.5% lower and bonds and other safe-haven assets suddenly back in demand.
(With Agency Inputs)
