- Indian benchmark indices declined Tuesday following a four-day rally.
- Broad-based selling affected most sectors; volatility gauges rose.
- Brent crude prices surged amid US-Iran conflict uncertainty.
The Indian benchmark indices declined on Tuesday as the Sensex declined 210 points to close trade at 78,428 and the Nifty ended 159 points lower to close at 24,614 at 3:30 PM.
Previously, during the early morning session, the Sensex was trading 105.32 points, or 0.13 per cent, higher at 78,744.35, while the NSE Nifty50 declined 172.35 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 24,601.95 in early trade.
In the broader markets, the Nifty 100 declined 0.62 per cent and the Nifty Microcap 250 gained 0.43 per cent as volatility remained high. Sectorally, the Nifty Media index gained 2.03 per cent and the Nifty Realty index tumbled 2.39 per cent.
In the 30-share BSE Sensex, among the top gainers were stocks such as Trent, Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics, Tata Steel and Mahindra and Mahindra. Meanwhile, the laggards included stocks like Kotak Bank, ITC, State Bank of India, Adani Ports and Asian Paints.
Profit Booking After Four-Day Rally
Markets witnessed profit booking after rallying for four straight sessions. The Sensex declined nearly 800 points from the day’s high, while the Nifty traded close to the key psychological level of 24,450.
Broad-Based Selling Across Sectors
Selling was visible across most sectoral indices, with only the Nifty Media and Nifty Metal indices managing to stay in positive territory.
The Nifty Private Bank index emerged as the biggest laggard, falling 1.5%. Realty, banking, information technology, financial services, and oil & gas indices also declined more than 1% each.
According to analysts quoted by Moneycontrol, investors should monitor the next few trading sessions to better assess the impact of the newly introduced closing auction mechanism for the equity cash segment.
Following the closing auction, the Nifty 50 ended Monday at 24,774.30, up 1.6% from Friday. The closing level was significantly higher than the 24,573.35 recorded at 3:15 pm, when continuous trading in F&O stocks concluded.
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Among individual stocks, Grasim Industries was the biggest drag on the index, falling nearly 4%. HDFC Life Insurance Co also declined close to 4%, while Hindustan Unilever slipped nearly 3%.
On the gaining side, Trent, Hindalco Industries, Jio Financial Services, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Eternal, and ITC ended flat to 1.1% higher.
Technical Resistance Remains
Analysts said the Nifty needs to decisively trade above the 24,700 mark for bullish momentum to strengthen further.
India VIX Climbs
The India VIX, widely tracked as the market’s volatility gauge, rose more than 3% to 12.32 on August 4, indicating the possibility of short-term selling pressure in the markets.
Brent Crude Surges
Crude oil prices also moved higher on Tuesday as uncertainty persisted over a diplomatic resolution to the US-Iran conflict, while disruptions to oil flows through key shipping routes continued.
Front-month Brent crude futures climbed 3% to $86.33 per barrel after tumbling 7% in the previous session to a three-week low.
Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 30 cents, or 0.37%, to $80.64 per barrel after falling more than 5% in the previous session to its lowest level in nearly a week.
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