Benchmark Indices ended the four-day winning run on Tuesday to end lower amid selling seen in some sectors and mixed global cues.
Sensex was down 195.16 points or 0.26 per cent at 73,677.13 while the Nifty was down 49.30 points or 0.22 per cent at 22,356.30.
The session started on a negative note and extended the losses as the day progressed but buying in the second half narrowed the losses. Selling was seen in information technology and FMCG in a highly volatile session.
The Nifty opened on a flat note and drifted lower during the first hour of the trading session recovering in the second half though closed in the red.
The majority of stocks witnessed selling pressure as investors offloaded equities due to rich valuations, with most positives already discounted and fresh triggers not in sight. BSE midcap index ended flat and the smallcap index shed 0.6 per cent .
On the sectoral front, a mixed trend was seen with auto index up 1.3 per cent , PSU Bank index up 2.5 per cent and oil & gas, power and realty up 0.5 per cent each. IT and FMCG indices shed 1 per cent each.
Nifty PSU Bank index jumped 2.56 per cent while Nifty Auto rose 1.35 per cent . Nifty Bank settled with a gain of 0.26 per cent but the Nifty Private Bank index fell 0.20 per cent.
Apart from PSU Banks, Auto was the top performer while IT and Media remained on the list of laggards.
A volume spike of more than 500 per cent was seen in Manappuram Finance, Tata Motors, Muthoot Finance.
The top gainers on the Nifty50 index were Tata Motors (up 3.59 per cent), Bharti Airtel (up 3.13 per cent ) and Bajaj Auto (up 1.74 per cent) while the shares of Bajaj Finserv (down 4.16 per cent ), Bajaj Finance (down 4.08 per cent ) and Nestle India (down 2.03 per cent) closed as the top losers.
Notably, 29 stocks closed in the red in the Nifty 50 pack while 21 stocks ended higher.
Further, over 200 stocks touched their 52-week high on the BSE including Bosch, Canara Bank, Capri Global, Castrol India, Elgi Equipments, Godfrey Phillips, JSW Holdings, Kirloskar Brothers, LIC Housing Finance, Samvardhana Motherson International , Schneider Infra, SMS Pharma, Tata Investment Corp, Tata Motors, Tata Motors DVR, TVS Motor, Union Bank, among others.
In the global landscape, there are no signs of an early rate cut by the US Federal Reserve which is keeping the risk appetite of investors low.
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said the US Federal Reserve was under no urgent pressure to cut interest rates given a prospering economy and job market.
Investors’ focus now is on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s semi-annual testimony to Congress as well as key macroeconomic data later in the week.