BT Closing Bell | Sensex, Nifty snap two-day winning streak; Trent, TCS lead index losers

Domestic equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty snapped their two-day winning streak on Tuesday, dragged down by selling pressure in financial stocks amid concerns that the US-Iran conflict could drag on despite ongoing peace negotiations.

At close, the Sensex slipped 479.26 points, or 0.63 per cent, to close at 76,009.70, while the Nifty declined 118 points, or 0.49 per cent, to settle at 23,913.70.

Near-term optimism about a potential US-Iran peace deal faded sharply after reports of US military operations in southern Iran, causing crude prices to rise and the rupee to reverse its brief appreciation, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd.

“The monthly F&O expiry further amplified technical selling pressure in an already risk-off environment, leading domestic equities to close lower. Despite this, mid-cap resilience stood out, with the index touching an all-time high during the session,” Nair said.

Top gainers & losers

Among Sensex constituents, Trent emerged as the top loser, falling 1.42% to Rs 4238. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) followed with a 1.35% slide, while Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Titan Company and HDFC Bank fell 1.25%, 1.23%, 1.14% and 1%, respectively.

While stocks such as Tech Mahindra, Eternal and Maruti Suzuki were among the gainers on the 30-pack index, they rose up to 1.68%.

“Going ahead, the immediate resistance for Nifty is placed in the 24050-24100 zone. Any sustainable move above this zone could result in Nifty extending its pullback towards 24250, followed by 24400 in the short term. On the downside, the immediate support for Nifty is placed in the 23800-23750 zone,” said Sudeep Shah, Head - Technical and Derivatives Research at SBI Securities.

Five stocks, namely HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, and Axis Bank, contributed largely to the Sensex’s fall.

Among sectoral indices, the BSE Top 10 Banks index declined 0.61% to close at 16,350, while the BSE Bankex index dropped 0.31% to settle at 62,096.22.