Among the 30 stocks, Sensex, Eternal, Infosys, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement and Bajaj Finance led the losses, declining between 1% and 2%.Eternal fell 2% after reports that the chief financial officer of its quick-trade unit, Blinkit, had resigned.
Broader markets also weakened, with mid-cap stocks down 0.2% and small caps down 0.3%.
The Sensex and Nifty have fallen around 1% in the past five sessions, pressured by steady foreign selling on thin trading volumes.
Expert views
The domestic market remained volatile, closing the monthly expiration day flat despite supportive global cues and selective value buying, said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments. He added that a stronger rupee provided some respite but overall sentiment remained cautious amid continued financial outflows. “While sector-level auto stocks rose on robust IIP data, metal stocks rose on higher metal prices that enabled better realizations. Similarly, PSU banks advanced with improved asset quality. Looking ahead, the market is expected to remain sideways pending more pronounced outcomes from the US-India trade talks and the Q3 earnings calendar,” Nair said.
Global markets Asian shares held steady on Tuesday as investors locked in strong year-end gains, while gold and silver stabilized after a sharp pullback from record highs cooled the metals’ rally.
Thin trading in a holiday-shortened week boosted volatility overnight. Silver fell 8.7% after hitting a record near $84 an ounce, the biggest single-day drop since August 2020, sending gold and copper down before recovering.
Silver rose 2.5% to $74.1 an ounce on Tuesday, remaining on track for a year-over-year gain of 156%. Gold added 0.7% to $4,361 an ounce, after falling 4.4% in the previous session.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index rose slightly 0.1%, on track for an annual gain of 26.7%, its best since 2017. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.1%, but was still up about 26% this year.
Top Chinese stocks rose 0.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.4%, and U.S. and European stock futures were largely steady in Asian trading.
Rough impact
Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday as investors reassessed declining expectations of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine and weighed on rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, especially around Yemen.
Brent crude futures for February delivery, set to expire later in the day, rose 15 cents to $62.09 a barrel by 0918 GMT, while the more actively traded March contract added 12 cents to $61.61.
Rupee vs dollar
The Indian rupee strengthened on Tuesday, rising 14 paise to a provisional close of 89.84 against the US dollar, supported by dollar selling by the Reserve Bank of India.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.06% to 97.99.
(with input from agencies)
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