Sensex rises 165 points, Nifty settled flat; mid & smallcaps bleed; Paisalo tanks 20%

Domestic equity markets remained volatile on Tuesday but managed to settle with mild gains. Profit booking at higher levels kept the gains in check ahead of key economic data over inflation from the US and India later in the day. However, carnage in the broader market continued.

BSE Sensex scaled 74,000 during the day but eventually rose more than 165 points, or 0.22 per cent, to end the day at 73,667.96. NSE's Nifty ended on a flat note at 22,335.70, adding 3.05 points, or only 0.01 per cent for the day. Broader market continued to underperform as the BSE midcap index tanked more than 1.3 per cent, while the BSE smallcap index crashed another 2.1 per cent.

Nifty witnessed an upper price rejection, casting a long shadow on the daily timeframe. However, the price concluded the day, forming the ‘Doji’ candlestick at the daily timeframe, indicating a sense of uncertainty in the market, said VLA Ambala, Founder at Stock Market Today. "Profit booking continued to prevail at all-time high ranges, with bullish trends trading at record levels."

The current trading position is experiencing a divergence, she said, advising F&O traders with a short-term view to remain invested in quality stocks amid the developments and practice hedging to avoid unwarranted risks.  The key levels to watch at the next trading session are 22,220 and 22,150 as support and 22,385 and 22,420 as key resistance, Ambala added.

On a sectoral front, only Nifty IT, private bank and financial services indices managed to settle in green. Among the laggards, the Nifty realty index cracked more than 3.7 per cent, while the Nifty PSU index tumbled more than 2.5 per cent. The Nifty media and metal index shed about 2 per cent each for the day.

In the Nifty50 pack, HDFC Bank added 2.3 per cent, while LTIMindTree and Tata Consultancy Services added 2 per cent each. Maruti Suzuki and Infosys were other key gainers. Among the laggards, Adani Enterprises tumbled about 2.6 per cent, while Grasim Industries, Cipl and Adani Ports were down more than 2 per cent each.

Buying in select frontline stocks helped key benchmarks to end in positive territory in a volatile trading session, although markets witnessed broad-based selling, especially in realty, power and capital goods stocks, said  Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities. "The focus is on the inflation readings to be released in the US and India for rate cut cues" he said.

A total of 3,967 shares were traded on BSE on Tuesday, of which 3,217 settled with gains. 674 stocks ended the session with cuts while 76 shares remained unchanged. During the day, 156 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 764 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day.

In the broader markets, Paisalo Digital tanked 20 per cent after regulatory strictness. Swan Energy tanked about 19 per cent after NCLT orders. Godfrey Phillips declined about 12 per cent, while Authum Investment and Infra dropped 11 per cent each. Infibeam Avenues, SpiceJet and GMR Power & Urban India were down 9 per cent each.

Among the gainers, SMS Pharmaceuticals surged about 14 per cent, while Greenlam Laminates gained more than 9 per cent. Sanghi Industries and HEG rose 8 per cent each, while Quick Heal Technologies and Linde India gained 7 per cent each for the day. Sigachi Industries was up 6 per cent.