Stock Market Today: Sensex Sinks 250 Points; Nifty Below 22,050 On Weak Trends. Banks Drag

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, PowerGrid, Maruti, Airtel, SBI, JSW Steel, TechM emerged losers. Bajaj twins, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Nestle were among the gainers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Tuesday are trading lower, tracking subdued Asian trends. At 9.55 am, the BSE Sensex was down 251 points to 72,581. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 22,044, down 53 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, PowerGrid, Maruti, Airtel, SBI, JSW Steel, TechM emerged losers. On the flip side, Bajaj twins, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Nestle were among the gainers.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices advanced 0.13 per cent and 0.24 per cent higher, respectively.

Sectorally, Nifty FMCG index declined 0.6 per cent, followed by the Nifty Bank, which fell 0.3 per cent. On the other hand, Nifty Auto and Metal indices gained 0.4 per cent each.

In the previous session on Monday, the stock markets remained closed on account of Holi.

"Market is likely to consolidate this week in the absence of any known triggers for sharp up or down moves. Since the week is a truncated week of three trading days, volumes have dipped markedly indicating absence of significant directional move," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Asian markets saw Tokyo and Shanghai trading lower, while Seoul and Hong Kong remained in positive territory. Wall Street closed with losses on Monday.

According to exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 3,309.76 crore on Friday.

The global oil benchmark, Brent crude, experienced a slight decrease of 0.01 percent, settling at $86.74 per barrel.

Meanwhile, in early trade on Tuesday, the rupee bounced back from its record low, gaining 29 paise to reach 83.32 against the US dollar.

Opening at 83.33 at the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic currency strengthened to touch 83.32 against the greenback in initial deals, marking a gain of 29 paise from its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee had weakened by 48 paise to close at an all-time low of 83.61 against the US dollar. Both forex and equity markets remained closed on Monday due to the Holi festival.