Stock markets close in the green amidst buying in heavyweights and mixed global cues

• Sensex closed 165 points higher at 73,667 while Nifty was up marginally by 3 points to 22,335.
• Banking stocks came under pressure, Nifty Bank shed 45 points, and BSE Bankex shed 121 points.
• Most of Nifty’s mid- and small-cap indices fell over 1% during the trade.
  

Indian benchmark indices closed higher on Tuesday as investors bought into large-cap stocks like HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries. Tech and auto stocks also saw gains as TCS, Infosys, TechM, LTI Mindtree as well as Maruti and M&M.

Sensex closed 165 points higher at 73,667 while Nifty was up marginally by 3 points to 22,335. The indices opened on a much higher note after Monday’s slump but lost some of the steam during the volatile session.

“Buying in select frontline stocks helped key benchmarks to end in positive territory in a volatile trading session, although markets witnessed broad-based selling, especially in realty, power and capital goods stocks. The focus is on the inflation readings to be released in the US and India, as any further moderation would improve the prospects of a rate cut by the Fed,” said Prashanth Tapse, senior VP of research at Mehta Equities.

Banking stocks came under pressure with Nifty Bank shedding 45 points, and BSE Bankex losing 121 points. Adani Enterprises, Grasim, Cipla, Adani Ports and SBI were amongst the day’s top laggards.

Stress in small and midcap stocks continued as almost all of Nifty’s mid and small-cap indices fell over 1% during the trade. Nifty Microcap 250 fell by around 2%.

“Sentiments in the markets have turned bearish as Nifty broke the crucial level of 21,700. The bearishness in the mid-cap and small-cap space is even more severe. However, these corrections also offer the opportunity to accumulate good-quality stocks,” said Sheersham Gupta, director and senior technical analyst at Rupeezy.

Asian indices’ performance was also mixed as Japan's Nikkei shed 0.1%, Shanghai Composite index fell by 0.4%. But, Hong Kong's Hang Seng went up 3.1% and South Korea's Kospi went up by 0.8%. Globally, Dow Jones closed with a marginal gain of 0.12% on Monday as markets await inflation data to be released today. Tech-heavy Nasdaq closed 0.4% lower as top tech stocks like Facebook parent Meta dropped over 4%.

“Global sentiment remained mixed as investors awaited key US inflation data, which could offer insights into the Fed's interest rate decisions. Market participants are anticipating India's inflation figures scheduled for release today, to remain consistent with the previous month, which will be at the middle of RBI's tolerance range,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.