Stock Market: Sensex And Nifty Pare Early Gains, Trade Flat. IT Drags

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, PowerGrid, M&M, Nestle, Airtel, Sun Pharma, Infosys, were trading in the red

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Tuesday erased early gains and were trading flat. At 9.58 am, the BSE Sensex was down by 48 points to 65,904. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty was trading at 19,588, down 9 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, PowerGrid, M&M, Nestle, Airtel, Sun Pharma, Infosys, were trading in the red. On the flipside, TechM, Maruti, Tata Motors, SBI, Wipro, Titan emerged gainers. Paytm’s shares declined 2 per cent after Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants (PwC India) resigned as the auditor of Paytm Payments Services. Shares of Inox Wind rallied 5.3 per cent after nearly 10 million shares, or over 4 per cent equity, changed hands on the counter amid block deal.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices held gains as the both added 0.2 per cent each.

Sectorally, the Nifty Pharma index was leading from the front with 0.9-per cent gain. The Nifty FMCG and IT indices, on the other hand, were down 0.2 per cent each.

In the previous session on Monday, the S&P BSE Sensex ended at 65,953 levels, up 232 points, while the NSE Nifty50 rose 80 points to settle at 19,597 levels.

"While global cues will continue to dictate trends, investors would be watchful of the two key catalysts - RBI's monetary policy and US inflation data on Thursday," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

In Asian markets, Seoul, and Hong Kong traded lower while Tokyo and Shanghai quoted in the green. The US markets ended in the positive territory on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.18 per cent to $85.49 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,892.77 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated 6 paise to 82.81 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday as a negative trend in domestic equities and firm crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments. Forex traders said the rupee is trading lower on strong dollar and foreign fund outflows over the past few days.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 82.80, then touched 82.81, registering a decline of 6 paise over its last close as the RBI monetary policy committee meeting begins on Tuesday. The policy decision will be announced on Thursday. On Monday, the rupee had settled 6 paise higher at 82.75 against the dollar.