Sensex, Nifty edge lower in early trade; Crompton Greaves, Ipca Labs dive up to 10%

Indian equity benchmarks slipped into the red in early trade on Tuesday, taking cues from lower Asian markets. The domestic indices traded lower today as losses in consumer durables, pharma and technology stocks countered gains in metals, state-owned lenders and energy shares. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack fell 33 points or 0.05 per cent to trade at 60,023, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 9 points or 0.05 per cent down to trade at 17,734. Mid- and small-cap shares were mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 shed 0.16 per cent and small-cap rose 0.18 per cent.

"Strong mid-cap companies can be accumulated at current prices attributed to the stable market," said Om Mehra, Equity Research Analyst at Choice Broking.

Investors would closely watch the quarterly (Q4) results with more earnings scheduled to be out later in the day.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling streak for the sixth consecutive session on Monday, offloading shares worth Rs 412 crore.

Nine out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Consumer Durables, Nifty Pharma and Nifty IT were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 1.24 per cent, 0.50 and 0.52 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, UPL was the top Nifty loser as the stock cracked 1.79 per cent to trade at Rs 716.80. Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's and Kotak Mahindra Bank fell up to 1.05 per cent.

In contrast, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank and Grasim Industries climbed up to 2.23 per cent.

However, the overall market breadth was strong as 1,675 shares were advancing while 929 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank), Infosys, Kotak Bank and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) were among the top laggards.

In addition, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals and Schaeffler and Ipca Laboratories tanked up to 9.99 per cent.

On the flip side, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, SBI, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, L&T, Airtel and Ultratehc Cement were trading in the green.

Sensex had surged 401 points or 0.67 per cent to settle at 60,056.10 on Monday, while Nifty had jumped 119 points or 0.68 per cent to 17,743.

Nifty outlook

"The range breakout as well as the achievement of 17,740 is consistent with our upside view, which now requires 17,700 to be defended for the day to remain positive. An upside objective may be extended from 17,830 to 17,976, but expect sideways bias again should we slip back below 17,700 again. An outright collapse is less expected," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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