Nifty ends below 8,400 ahead of Theresa May's speech on Brexit

The benchmark indices settled the Tuesday's session lower tracking European markets which fell ahead of British Prime Minister Theresa May's speech on Brexit due later in the day. 

Investors will scrutinise May's speech for clues to whether she plans to prioritise immigration controls in a hard Brexit that some say could hurt UK's economy.

The market opened higher in the early trade thanks to a breakthrough on the dual control of Goods and Services Tax (GST) between Centre and the state governments in a metting on Monday, but pared gains soon after. 

The S&P BSE Sensex closed at 27,235, down 52 points, while Nifty50 ended below its crucial 8,400 mark, down 15 points. 

In the broader market, BSE Smallcap index outperformed to end 0.3% higher, while BSE midcap index closed unchanged. 

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative. On the BSE, 1,379 shares declined and 1,365 shares rose. A total of 177 shares were unchanged.

"Nifty continued to be directionless for the fourth day in a row and ended marginally lower. Profit taking was witnessed across the board and mostly sectoral indices ended in line with benchmark index. However, there are some interesting stock specific actions for traders and investors," said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities.

"The market should resume its upward movement shortly. So, use this phase to accumulate quality stocks on every dip. There is no shortage of opportunities and the market is on the cusp of a pre-budget rally," he added.

Buzzing stocks

Reliance Industries was the top loser on Sensex and shed 3.5% to Rs 1039 over concerns about spending at its telecom unit that overshadowed better-than-expected third-quarter earnings. 

The company reported 10% year on year (YoY) growth in its standalone net profit at Rs 8,022 crore in Q3 on account of a higher than expected margins in the refining and petrochemical businesses and a higher other income. 

Fortis Healthcare fell 2.4% after Daiichi Sankyo moved an application in Delhi High Court to block former Ranbaxy Lab promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh from selling their stake in Fortis Healthcare, marking a new twist in the Rs 2,500 crore arbitration case. 

Among gainers, logistics companies soared for the second straight day after the GST Council on Monday broke a deadlock over issues of administrative control over assessees and broadly agreed to roll out the GST from July 1, instead of the earlier deadline of April 1.

Gati, Patel Integrated Logistics, Snowman Logistics, Transport Corporation of India, Allcargo Logistics, Sical Logistics, Gateway Distriparks and VRL Logistics gained 1%-5% on the BSE.

KP Energy rose 4.7% to Rs 366 after the company said its board will meet on 28 January 2017, to consider bonus issue of shares.

Asian Oilfield Services shot up 3.5% after the company informed exchanges that it has received letter of award of contract from Oil India for an estimated contract value of Rs 142.86 crore. 

Global markets

European shares fell on Tuesday, weighed by miners and autos, as markets awaited details of Britain's Brexit position in a late morning speech by Prime Minister Theresa May.

The pan-European STOXX index was down 0.5%, and Britain's blue-chip FTSE extended its losses, down 0.4%.

Among Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite ended marginally higher, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index and Taiwan's TSEC added 0.5%, and 0.7%, respectively. However, Japan's Nikkei bucked the trend to lose 1.5%.

(With inputs from agencies)