Sensex, Nifty settle flat after fag-end profit booking; IRB Infra jumps 9%, ZEEL tanks 8%

Domestic equity markets settled slightly higher on Tuesday. The headline indices opened with healthy gains in the morning but profit booking in the fag-end session erased majority of the gains. Traders will be looking at inflation cues at the global level, while India Inc's performance in the Q3 shall be widely tracked, other than lofty valuations in select pockets. U-turn on Monday and settled sharply lower. Headline indices kicked off the new week on a positive note but the sharp sell-off across all the sectors weighed on the market sentiments. Traders will be looking at US inflation numbers and India Incs earnings due later this week for cues in the near term.   For the day, BSE's Sensex added 30.99 points, or 0.04 per cent, to settle at 71,386.21. NSE's Nifty50 gained 31.85 points, or 0.15 per cent, to end the day at 21,544.85. Broader markets were in-line with the headline peers as the BSE midcap and smallcap indices managed to post mild gains for the day. Fear gauge drooped about 1.5 per cent to 13.26-mark. Markets witnessed a roller coaster ride on Tuesday and ended almost flat, in continuation to the prevailing consolidation phase. Firm global cues triggered a gag-up start in Nifty, which further strengthened with renewed buying in select heavyweights, however a sharp cut in latter half trimmed the gains, said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research at Religare Broking. "The rebound attempt in Nifty shows that bulls are not in mood to loosen their grip easily and supportive global cues could prompt the next leg of up move. Meanwhile, participants should limit trades and prefer hedged bets," he added. On a sectoral front, the Nifty media index dropped more than 3 per cent, while the Nifty financial services and private bank indices were other key laggards. Among the gainers, the Nifty realty index surged more than 2.5 per cent, while the Nifty healthcare, auto, pharma and metal indices added about a per cent each. In the Nifty50 pack, Hero MotoCorp gained about 2.9 per cent, leading gainers, followed by Adani Ports which gained 2.75 per cent. SBI Life Insurance Company, Apollo Hospitals and Adani Enterprises rallied more than 2 per cent each. Among the losers, Britannia Industries shed more than a per cent, while Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India and HDFC Life Insurance shed about a per cent each. Positive sentiments in the Indian IT sector fuelled by a US tech rally and demand on emerging technologies, overshadowed the anticipated muted Q3 results of the sector, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services. "Auto & realty continued to remain favorites on account of strong demand. Market optimism about potential softening of US inflation is driving expectations of near-term rate cuts, bolstering overall sentiment. But in-between profit booking is emerging due to mixed cues from Asian markets as well high valuation concerns," he said. A total of 3,944 shares were traded on BSE on Tuesday, of which 2,242 settled with cuts. 1,603 stocks ended the session with cuts while 99 shares remained unchanged. During the day, 514 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 149 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day. In the broader markets, Borosil Renewables surged about 10 per cent, while IRB Infrastructure Developers gained over 9 per cent. JSW Energy rose over 8 per cent, while NBCC advanced over 7 per cent. Among the laggards, Polycab India tanked about 9 per cent, while ZEE Entertainment shed about 8 per cent. Vodafone India shed over 5 per cent.

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