Though the US and European markets closed in the green on Monday and the Asian markets followed suit on Tuesday, Indian indices shed one per cent on Tuesday.
The Sensex and the Nifty lost 0.98 per cent and 0.95 per cent, respectively to close at 16,008.34 and 4,805.10, respectively.
“This is a classic case of ‘timepass’ by the stock market (Indian lingo for whiling away time without showing any concrete evidence on the direction in which it would be headed to)” said a senior dealer with an Indian brokerage.
Volatility was up marginally with the India VIX closing one per cent higher at 26.87.
Dr Reddy, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Hero Motocorp and HUL were the top five Nifty gainers while PNB, Jindal Steel, Bharti Airtel, DLF and ACC were the top five losers.