India’s Sensex and Nifty closed flat on Tuesday, with the BSE index down 69.86 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 76,765.92.
The Nifty 50 eased 10.60 points, or 0.04 per cent, to settle at 23,985.35.
Bank Nifty fell 331.60 points, or 0.58 per cent, to close at 56,755.60.
A strong rally in IT stocks saw the Nifty IT index climb 3.32 per cent, led by TCS and Tech Mahindra.
Hindustan Unilever’s weak earnings weighed on the index, with the stock falling nearly 7 per cent after its quarterly results missed expectations.
Coal India also declined more than 4 per cent on a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit, blamed on lower production volumes and higher operating costs, while Bharat Electronics also featured among the losers.
The Nifty Midcap index rose 0.08 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap index eased 0.22 per cent.
The flat close followed a sharp rebound on Monday, when the indices snapped a five-day losing streak on the back of falling crude oil prices.
Tuesday’s session unfolded against a backdrop of mixed global cues, with several Asian markets, including Japan’s Nikkei, South Korea’s Kospi and China’s Shanghai Composite, also trading lower during the day.
Market participants said the earnings season remained a key driver of stock-specific moves this week, with several large companies due to report their quarterly results in the coming days.
The day also marked the monthly expiry for Nifty futures and options contracts, which analysts said contributed to range-bound trading through large parts of the session.
Foreign institutional investors have been closely watched in recent sessions, with their buying or selling activity often cited as a factor behind the market’s day-to-day direction.
Hindustan Unilever’s fall came after the company reported quarterly numbers that fell short of analyst estimates, with investors reacting sharply to the miss given the stock’s weight in the consumer goods space within the benchmark indices.
(Image: Niyantha Shekhar (CC BY 2.0))
