Benchmark indices, which began on a promising note on Tuesday, were off the day’s high on lack of buying interest in the second half. However, they ended in the green. 

Arresting Monday's slide, the market ended on a flat note with indices being dragged down by banking and financial stocks. A sharp rise in Covid-19 cases with a possibility of harsher restrictions across states weighed on investor sentiments. Apart from this, the RBI’s three-day Monetary Policy Committee meeting will end tomorrow.

The BSE Sensex closed at 49,201.39, up 42.07 points or 0.09 per cent. After opening almost 300 points higher at 49,441, the Sensex rose to hit an intraday high of 49,582.26. However, as investors turned cautious, it failed to sustain the gains and slipped to a low of 48,936.35.

The Nifty 50 closed at 14,683.50, up 45.70 or 0.31 per cent. It hit an intraday high of 14,779.10 and an intraday low of 14,573.90. 

Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities, said, “Domestic equities were quite volatile today and gave up initial gains as a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases across the country and resultant mobility restrictions continued to weigh on investors’ sentiments.”

Gainers outnumber losers  

As many as 1,664 stocks have advanced on the BSE, 1,217 declined and 190 remain unchanged; 311 securities hit the upper circuit and 217 the lower circuit. Also, 159 stocks hit their 52-week high and 44 their 52-week low. 

Adani Ports, Tata Consumer, Asian Paints, JSW Steel and SBI Life were among the gainers on the Nifty 50 while PowerGrid, Grasim, Eicher Motors, Axis Bank and Ultratech Cements were among the losers. 

Adani Ports shines 

Adani Ports, the top gainer on the market today also recorded fresh 52-week high of ₹852.70 on NSE on Tuesday. The company’s stock gained significantly after it purchased 25 per cent stake it does not already own in Krishnapatnam Port Co Ltd (KPCL) for ₹2,800 crore to take full control of the port.

 Furthermore, its flagship Mundra port has overtaken state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to become the country’s largest container gateway by handling 5.65 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in FY21, posting a growth of 18 per cent compared to last year.

RBI policy awaited 

The outcome of the RBI will remain a major driving factor for the market this week with investors banking on a dovish stance from policymakers, analysts said.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "Market is attempting a strong pullback from yesterday’s low as the announced lockdown is unlikely to really dampen the economic growth trajectory. There is a great hope that economic restrictions, summer season and vaccination will lead to a fall in covid cases."

"The pullback is also supported by a strong rally happening in global markets. The domestic market was awaiting the RBI policy with an expectation to maintain the status quo, future commentary on growth & inflation will be highly viewed with an optimistic outlook on FY22."

Metal, Pharma in focus 

Among sectoral indices, financials, auto and IT dragged market today while metals and pharma remained bullish. The Nifty Metal index hit its 52-week high of 4,305.50. It was up 1.43 per cent at closing. The Nifty Pharma was up 1.76 per cent. 

The Nifty Bank was down 0.54 per cent at closing. 

Midcaps, smallcaps shine 

As for broader indices ended the day in the green.

The Nifty Midcap 50 was up 0.72 per cent at closing while Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 1.57 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 1.00 while the S&P BSE Smallcap ended 0.84 per cent higher. 

“Notably, strong buying was seen in quality midcap and small cap stocks today as investors indulged in bargain trading in these counters after recent corrections,” said Modi. 

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