Stock Market Settles In Red, Sensex Slips Nearly 400 Points, Nifty Closes Below 21,700

In the broader markets, the indices closed trading entirely in red, except the Nifty Microcap 250 index, which climbed 0.31 per cent during the day.

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Tuesday, broke off last week’s rally and closed trading in red. The S&P BSE Sensex breached the 72,000 mark and dropped nearly 400 points to close at 71,892.48, while the NSE Nifty50 slipped 81.65 points to settle below the 21,700 mark at 21,660.25. 

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Reliance, and Bajaj Finserv emerged as the prime gainers. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank, UltraTech Cement, M&M, L&T, and ICICI Bank were among the losers during the day. 

In the broader markets, the indices closed trading entirely in red, except the Nifty Microcap 250 which climbed 0.31 per cent during the day. Among others, the Nifty Midcap Select and the Nifty 100 indices dropped 0.54 per cent and 0.32 per cent during the day. 

Sectorally, the Nifty Pharma index jumped 2.46 per cent in the day, followed by the Nifty Healthcare index which climbed 1.91 per cent in the day. Among the laggards, the Nifty Auto and Private Bank indices traded in losses at 1.37 per cent and 1.17 per cent respectively. 

In the previous trading session on Monday, the two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty ended trading at a muted high. The S&P BSE Sensex gained nearly 32 points to close at 72,271.94, while the NSE Nifty50 climbed marginally to settle at 21,741.90, as the first trading session of the New Year came to a close.

The domestic rupee depreciated 11 paise to settle at 83.32 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday, amidst a negative trend in the domestic equities. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 83.28 against the greenback, and later fell to 83.32 against the American currency. A day earlier, the Indian currency settled at 83.21 against the American unit.

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, traded higher by 2.13 per cent to $78.68 per barrel. Exchange data revealed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) became net sellers in the capital markets on Monday and offloaded shares worth Rs 855.80 crore.