Delhi/Mumbai: Indian benchmark indices traded choppy within a narrow range on Tuesday (May 19) amid weekly Nifty expiry, eventually settling near the 23,600 mark.
The investor's sentiments in the market remained cautious as the Indian rupee continued its depreciation, touching a fresh low of 96.61 against the US dollar.
Additionally, elevated crude oil prices weighed on investor confidence and remained a key concern for market participants.
At close of the trading, the Sensex declined 114.19 points, or 0.15 percent, to settle at 75,200.85, while the Nifty fell 31.95 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 23,618.00.
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On the sectoral front, buying interest remained broadly positive, with major support coming from Nifty IT and Realty stocks, whereas the private banking sector emerged as the primary laggard during the session.
"The broader market continued to outperform the benchmark indices, witnessing strong buying interest," added Bajaj Broking Research in its market closing note.
"We are of the view that the short-term market texture is non-directional, and range-bound activity is likely to continue in the near future," said Shrikant Chouhan, head equity research, Kotak Securities.
The Nifty Midcap 100 index gained 0.91 percent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 1.17 percent, reflecting sustained participation in the broader market space.
Major action during the trading
Indian stock markets started in green territory, with the Sensex rising over 100 points while the Nifty 50 at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) started above 23,650.
As expected, the stocks of oil marketing companies such as HPCL, BPCL, and IOC climbed around 3 percent each after the center announced another hike in the rates of petrol and diesel early this morning. This was the second rate revision within the week.
Soon after the action in stocks of OMCs, the IT stocks surged 5 percent. Indian IT firms such as Infosys and TCS remained the biggest beneficiaries of the action in IT stocks.
The rally amid the weak sentiment came after the investors witnessed the valuation closer to the 2008-2009 American subprime crisis.
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Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd., said, "On the sectoral front, the IT sector is witnessing some recovery in the last few days on the back of a weak rupee, with the Nifty IT index gaining 5.7 percent in the last 2 trading sessions."
"Simultaneously, the pharmaceutical sector is also expected to remain in focus, supported by strong quarterly performance, improving earnings visibility, and currency-led tailwinds given its significant export exposure," said Khemka.
The markets saw defense stock Apollo Micro Systems surging 7.39% to Rs 334.55 due to the impressive financial results of the company.
Apollo Micro Systems posted a huge 163% surge in consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter at Rs 36.8 crore, compared with Rs 14 crore in the same quarter last year.
Another major action was seen in the stocks of India's third big telecom player, Vodafone Idea, which jumped 3 percent. Its stocks jumped to Rs 13.23 apiece, close to where they were about 52 weeks back. The stocks have increased over 36 percent in one month and are up 13 percent in the current year so far.
INR Status
The markets also saw the Indian Rupee (INR) falling to its lifetime low during the trading on Tuesday. The volatility in crude oil prices led to the fall in the rupee, which slipped 0.2 percent to close at 96.53 against the dollar.
However, the oil prices fell by about 2 percent due to the claims made by US President Donald Trump, who said that they have stopped the planned attack on Iran.
Gold Update
In the commodities, gold prices climbed by Rs 439 to Rs 159,840 per 10 grams in futures trade.
BSE Stocks
Amid media reports that the BSE will replace Wipro to enter Nifty in the upcoming rejig in September, the stocks of India's oldest exchange surged 4.3 percent.
VIX
Amid the subdued sentiments, the volatility index, which tells the market risk and investor sentiment, dipped over 5 percent.
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Indian Economy: ICRA
Last but not least, the investor sentiment also dipped after the credit rating agency ICRA downgraded the growth of the Indian economy. ICRA estimated that the country's GDP is likely to grow at 6.2 percent in FY27, down from the earlier estimate of 6.5 percent amid elevated crude oil prices triggered by the West Asia crisis.
Ends.
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