Stock Market: Sensex Slips Into Red, Drops 100 Points, Nifty Holds 15,800; IT, Bank Drag

Stock update: On the BSE, ITC, Wipro, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki India, IndusInd Bank, and Asian Paints were among the major laggards

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Tuesday erased gains during the fag-end selling and ended in the red dragged by technology, bank, automobile and consumer stocks despite positive cues from the Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE index declined 100 points (0.19 per cent) to settle at 53,134. During the day, it jumped 631 points (1.18 per cent) to 53,865. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty also gave up intra-day gains and dipped 24 points (0.15 per cent) to 15,810.

On the BSE, ITC, Wipro, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki India, IndusInd Bank, and Asian Paints were among the major laggards.

On the flipside, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, and Tata Steel were among the major gainers.

In the broader markets, Midcap and Smallcap shares finished on a weak note as Nifty Midcap 100 dropped 0.27 per cent and Smallcap edged 0.07 per cent lower.

On NSE, 11 out of the 15 sector gauges settled in the red. Sub-indexes IT, Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG, and Nifty Consumer Durables dived as much as 0.70 per cent, 0.37 per cent, 0.36 per cent, 0.16 per cent and 0.13 per cent. However, Nifty Healthcare, Nifty Metal and Nifty Oil & Gas showed strength by climbing 0.34 per cent, 0.30 per cent and 0.18 per cent.

Though, the overall market breadth stood positive as 1,725 shares advanced, while 1,562 declined on the BSE.

In the previous session on Monday, the BSE index had gained 326 points (0.62 per cent) to settle at 53,234, while the Nifty went higher by 83 points (0.53 per cent) to close at 15,835.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong ended with gains, while Shanghai settled marginally lower.

European bourses were trading in the negative territory in mid-session deals. The US markets were closed for a holiday on Monday.

"Nifty gave up morning gains and ended in the negative zone. Following early weakness in European markets, it fell and closed lower," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.88 per cent to $112.5 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 2,149.56 crore on Monday, as per exchange data.