Stock market on Tuesday erased all the intraday gains amid the highly volatile session with selling seen in the IT, metal, media, oil & gas names.
Initially, the benchmarks opened higher and traded in the green till the final hour of the session when profit booking engulfed the market, causing key indices to enter the red zone.
Sensex closed 189 points, or 0.25 per cent, lower at 74,482.78 while the Nifty 50 closed the day at 22,604.85, down 39 points, or 0.17 per cent. In the month of April, the BSE Sensex and Nifty50 indices rose 1 per cent each.
Losses in the benchmark indices were led by select banking and IT heavyweights, including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys and TCS.
In a sectoral analysis, the Nifty Auto index hit an all-time high of 22,634.05, led by gains in M&M and Bajaj Auto. The Nifty Realty index was up over 2 per cent as well.
Nifty IT, Metal, and PSU Bank indices were top sectoral laggards, slipping up to 0.5 per cent.
On the Nifty index, M&M, Power Grid Corporation, Shriram Finance, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto were among the top gainers, while losers were Tech Mahindra, BPCL, JSW Steel, HCL Technologies and Sun Pharma.
Further, the mid and smallcap indices continued their upward march with the BSE Midcap index hit its fresh all-time high of 42,396.21 during the session before closing 0.49% higher at 42,121.40. The BSE Smallcap index ended 0.10% higher at 47,315.93.
Shares of Manappuram Finance surged about 5% to Rs 207 apiece after its subsidiary Asirvad Microfinance received SEBI’s go-ahead to launch an initial public offering (IPO).
A delightful day was marked by the Jana Small Finance Bank as its shares hit 20 per cent upper circuit at Rs 600.35 as investors rejoiced at the lender’s plans to apply for a universal bank license by May-June 2025.
Also, the Nifty concluded the April F&O series with steady gains of over a per cent, indicating a stable market environment, offering limited gains for arbitrageurs.
The rupee recovered 4 paise to 83.41 (provisional) against the US dollar, tracking foreign capital inflows and a strengthening greenback against major crosses overseal.
Forex analysts believed that the domestic currency initially faced resistance from a strong greenback and upward momentum in the crude oil prices but recovered the lost ground during the session on the back of a sharp rally in equities in the late afternoon trade.
Europe’s benchmark Stoxx 600 posted small moves as car makers Volkswagen AG, Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Stellantis NV retreated.
Traders believed that notwithstanding the FOMC meeting outcome likely on May 1, the trade set up is supportive of a further surge in Nifty and NiftyBank. Currently, markets are factoring in no change in Fed rate in the current meeting.
Oil held its biggest drop in almost two weeks as discussions on a possible cease-fire in the Middle East reduced the risk premium for crude.
Further, gold is set to gain for a third straight month ahead of this week’s Fed meeting.
The market will remain shut on May 1 on account of Maharashtra Day.