Stock Market Highlights: Despite starting with marginal gains, the key benchmark indices exhibited a weak trend and ended lower for the eighth straight trading session on Tuesday amid sustained selling in index heavyweights such as – Reliance, Infosys, Tata Steel and ITC. Market participants were also nervous ahead of the December quarter GDP numbers to be announced later today.
The S&P BSE Sensex touched a high of 59,484 in early deals, but thereafter slipped into red and hit a low of 58,796 – down 688 points from the day’s high. The Sensex finally settled 326 points lower at 58,962, and has now declined 2,358 points in the last eight trading days.
From a high of 17,440, the NSE Nifty 50 plunged to a low of 17,255 in intra-day deals on Tuesday. The Nifty eventually ended 89 points lower at 17,304, and in the process also broke its 200-DMA (Daily Moving Average) which stands at 17,384 - a key technical indicator on the charts.
"Global investors' interest in the equity market is weakening due to the slowdown in the economy, led by high inflation and contractionary monetary policy. Inflows are being diverted to safe assets, and corporate earnings growth is dropping, affecting the performance of the stock market and demanding downgrade in valuation. The double whammy for India is that it is expensive compared to other EMs, resulting in underperformance among the global market." says a note from Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Index heavyweights, Reliance Industries and Tata Steel down 2 per cent each were the top losers among the Sensex 30 pack. Bajaj Finserv, Infosys, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, NTPC and SBI were the other prominent losers.
On the positive front, Asian Paints surged 3 per cent. Mahindra & Mahindra, PowerGrid Corporation and UltraTech Cement also ended with notable gains.
Broader markets outperformed on Tuesday. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices finished with gains of around 0.5 per cent each. The overall breadth was neutral, with a near equal number of gainers and losers on the BSE.
Sectorally, the BSE Metal index shed 2.4 per cent. The Oil & Gas and Energy indices dropped 1.4 per cent each, and the Healthcare index weakened by a per cent. The BSE Realy index, however, gained 1.2 per cent.
Most Adani Group shares bounce back...
A majority of Adani Group shares ended with smart gains on Tuesday amid reports that the Group is looking to repay up to $790 million share-backed loans by March. Adani Enterprises soared over 14 per cent. Adani Ports, Adani Power, Adani Green, Adani Wilmar and NDTV were locked at the 5 per cent upper limit. However, Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas hit the 5 per cent lower circuit.
READ MORE Among others, Vedanta recorded a four-month low as the stock tumbled 9 per cent on heavy volumes amid debt concerns. According to analysts, growth capex, along with moderation in operating profitability, and higher than expected dividend payout is expected to result in increased leverage this fiscal.
READ MORE  "Sensex ends 326 pts lower ahead of GDP data; RIL, Tata Steel slip 2%")
