Sensex, Nifty close marginally up in volatile trade; rise for 3rd straight day

Mumbai, May 23 (PTI) Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty eked out gains in volatile trade to extend the winning streak to a third straight day on Tuesday amid weak trends in global markets as investors turned cautious ahead of the release of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes.

Fag-end selling dragged the 30-share BSE Sensex down from its intra-day high level to settle at 61,981.79 with marginal gains of 18.11 points or 0.03 per cent. During the day, the barometer jumped 281.51 points or 0.45 per cent to 62,245.19.

The NSE Nifty rose by 33.60 points or 0.18 per cent to end at 18,348, driven by gains in Adani group stocks.

Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, ITC, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Wipro, Infosys and Maruti were the major gainers.

Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and Larsen & Toubro were the major laggards.

“Domestic benchmark indices closed flat after a positive session, driven by buying in the metal, pharma, and auto sectors. However, market sentiment was challenged by a sell-off in IT stocks, influenced by weak signals from the US market,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said.

The direction of the US market is anticipated to impact global equities, with investors closely monitoring upcoming events such as the release of FOMC minutes, US PMI, and progress in debt-ceiling talks, Nair added.

“The benchmark indices observed profit-taking at higher levels. While some IT stocks saw profit-booking at higher levels, the metal index continued to outperform,” Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd said.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.43 per cent and smallcap index gained 0.11 per cent.

Among the indices, utilities jumped 1.37 per cent, power gained 1.18 per cent, oil & gas (0.92 per cent), commodities (0.91 per cent) and energy (0.66 per cent).

Industrials, IT, capital goods, consumer durables, teck and realty were the laggards.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower, while Seoul ended in the green.

Markets in Europe were trading mostly lower. The US market ended mostly with gains on Monday.

US President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy both said they had a productive debt ceiling discussion late Monday at the White House, but there was no agreement as negotiators strained to raise the nation’s borrowing limit in time to avert a potentially chaotic federal default.

Market participants are waiting for the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes, scheduled for May 24.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Monday as they bought equities worth Rs 922.89 crore after a day’s breather, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.03 per cent to USD 75.97 a barrel.

The rupee also traded in a narrow range and settled 2 paise higher at 82.82 against the US dollar.