Benchmark indices were ruling in the green on Tuesday afternoon, led by recovery in banking and financials. After opening on a positive note, the market largely moved in a narrow range.

According to experts, a declining trend in Covid cases in various States including Maharashtra has further offered some relief to investors.

At 1 pm, the BSE Sensex was at 48,826.63, up 108.11 points or 0.22 per cent. It hit an intra-day high of 48,996.53 and a low of 48,521.85.

The Nifty 50, after hitting an intra-day high of 14,723.40, was ruling at 14,664.95, up 30.80 or 0.21 per cent. It touched a low of 14,580.15 during the day.

The recovery was led by banking and financials while pharma stocks lagged behind.

Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, SBI Life, BPCL and Kotak Bank were among the top gainers on the Nifty 50, while Tata Consumer, Dr Reddy, Cipla, Sun Pharma and Reliance were among the top laggards.

Separately, the British government has finalised 1 billion pounds ($1.39 billion) worth of private-sector investment with India.

Bank stocks shine

On the sectoral front, all indices except Nifty Pharma, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Metal were in the green.

Nifty Bank was up 1.37 per cent while Nifty Financial Services was up 0.84 per cent. Nifty PSU Bank logged highest gains and was up 5.83 per cent.

Nifty Pharma was down 1.30 per cent. Nifty FMCG and Nifty Metal were down 0.13 per cent and 0.05 per cent, respectively.

Broader indices

All broader indices were in the green and outperformed the benchmark indices.

The Nifty Midcap 50 was up 1.27 per cent while the Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 0.59 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 0.66 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was up 0.74 per cent.

The volatility index softened over 5 per cent.

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