An evening walk down Dalal Street
After days of positive moves, investors on Tuesday took a breather and ended around flat lines. The Sensex managed to end below 37,700. Meanwhile, the Nifty too slipped off its opening highs, but managed to end at an all-time closing high.
The drag on indices was largely led by banks, which witnessed a profit booking after it saw a big rally on Monday. So, even better than expected results from an index heavyweight such as Punjab National Bank could not salvage the banks from falling on Tuesday.
Along with it, there was weakness among other sectors such as FMCG, energy and infra. Among broader markets, the Nifty Midcap index managed to end the day over quarter of a percent lower.
“Equity benchmarks indices traded in a narrow range, amidst intraday volatility. The Nifty index ended flat to close at 11,391 levels. The broader market indices’ performance was largely in line with the benchmark with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap ending with minor losses of 0.2% each,” Jayant Manglik, President, Religare Broking, said in a statement.
The Sensex was down 26.09 points or 0.07% at 37665.80, while the Nifty was up 2.40 points or 0.02% at 11389.50. The market breadth is narrow as 1,243 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,448 shares, while 163 shares were unchanged.