An evening walk down Dalal Street

A quiet day of trade it is for the market on Tuesday, as benchmarks closed with minimal gains. This, after they clocked fresh record highs in the opening minutes before giving up almost all of the gains.

Selling in banks after an initial rally dragged the indices lower from their high points. Along with it, weakness was visible in sectors such as metals and FMCG. Meanwhile, buying counters were buzzing in IT and pharmaceuticals. A weak rupee also boosted tech stocks during the day. In case of broader markets, midcap indices ended the day with minor gains.

At the close of market hours, the Sensex is up 7.00 points or 0.02% at 38285.75, while the Nifty is up 19.10 points or 0.17% at 11570.90. The market breadth is negative as 1,320 shares have, against a decline of 1,373 shares, while 180 shares were unchanged.

Coal India, Axis Bank, UPL and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers, while Tata Steel, HUL, and BPCL lost the most.

The day started with the market hitting fresh highs of 11,581 on the Nifty, while the Sensex hit 38,402.96 in the morning. But the selloff immediately dragged them lower and steadied it around flat lines through the day. Experts believe that investors could also be waiting for cues from US-China trade meeting lined up on Wednesday along with any other global cues.

The market will be shut tomorrow on account of Bakri Id.