Fag-end sale of IT, banking shares erase market’s early gains

MUMBAI: Reversing early gains, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed lower on Tuesday due to a sell-off in banking and IT shares in the last hour of the session amid a mixed trend in global markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 188.50 points or 0.25 per cent to settle at 74,482.78. The index opened higher and rallied further 440.11 points or 0.58 per cent to hit a high of 75,111.39 in day trade. However, the barometer pared all the gains as selling emerged in banking and IT shares towards the end of the session.

The broader Nifty hit a lifetime intraday high of 22,783.35 in day trade before squandering its gains. Nifty closed lower by 38.55 points or 0.17 per cent to finish at 22,604.85 as metal, pharma and IT shares declined. As many as 25 Nifty shares closed lower, 24 advanced while one closed unchanged.

Losses in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, TCS and Tech Mahindra dragged indices from the day’s high levels.

From the Sensex basket, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen & Toubro and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the biggest laggards.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank and Maruti were the major gainers.

Domestic initial Q4 corporate earnings forecasts were conservative, however, Nifty50 companies’ earnings to date have remained marginally better, with the exception being the IT sector, while auto and realty continue to be robust, Nair added.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.49 per cent and smallcap index advanced 0.10 per cent.

Among the indices, teck dropped 0.98 per cent, IT by 0.98 per cent, metal by 0.85 per cent, commodities by 0.56 per cent and telecommunication by 0.33 per cent. Consumer discretionary, financial services, utilities, auto, realty and power were the gainers.