Indian benchmark equity indices, after opening on a muted note, were ahead slightly on Tuesday.
At 10 AM, the BSE Sensex was up 216 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 81,266, and the Nifty 50 was at 24,837, up 41 points, or 0.17 per cent.
At market open, more than half the stocks on the BSE Sensex were trading in the red. Losses were led by Tata Steel (down 3.35 per cent), followed by Tata Motors, Power Grid Corp., JSW Steel, and HCLTech, while the top gainers were Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.57 per cent), followed by Hindustan Unilever, SBI, UltraTech Cement, and Axis Bank.
On the Nifty 50, 29 of the 50 stocks were trading in the red. Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.33 per cent), followed by Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, SBI, and Larsen & Toubro, were the top gainers, while loses were capped by Tata Steel (down 3.57 per cent), followed by Tata Motors, Hindalco Industries, JSW Steel, and BPCL.
In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap 100 was down 0.13 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 was flat.
Meanwhile, across sectors, the Metal index was the biggest loser, down 2.80 per cent, while Auto, IT, Pharma, PSU Bank and Realty indices were also trading lower.
In contrast, the Nifty Bank, Financial Services, FMCG, and Private Bank indices were trading higher.
Global Cues
Global stocks also began Tuesday on a cautious note while oil prices stayed elevated as the escalating conflict in the Middle East sapped risk appetite ahead of China’s highly anticipated reopening after a long holiday.
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield held above 4 per cent in early Asia trade, as a robust US labour market prompted traders to heavily scale back their expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts.
Hezbollah on Monday fired rockets at Israel’s third-largest city, Haifa, and Israel looked poised to expand its offensive into Lebanon, one year after the devastating Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
Heightened fears of a widespread conflict and disruptions to supply sent Brent crude futures surging above $80 a barrel for the first time in over a month in the previous session.
