Mumbai | Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Tuesday despite a positive trend in global markets and easing crude oil prices, dragged by IT, financials and capital goods stocks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 329.91 points, or 0.44 per cent, to settle at 74,529.08. During the day, it lost 435.28 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 74,423.71.
The 50-share NSE Nifty ended 85.30 points, or 0.36 per cent, lower at 23,329, snapping a four-day rally. Among the 30 Sensex firms, Bajaj Finserv, Trent, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Sun Pharma and UltraTech Cement were the major laggards.
Eternal, Interglobe Aviation, Titan and Tata Steel were among the winners.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, declined 1.67 per cent to USD 98.66 per barrel.
"Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Tuesday, with domestic sentiment remaining weak despite a more supportive global backdrop. Falling crude oil prices and softer global bond yields offered a more supportive backdrop, but the improvement in global conditions failed to translate into gains for Indian equities.
"Broad-based selling across IT, financials and consumer goods kept the domestic benchmarks under pressure," Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.
Among major IT stocks, Hexaware Technologies lost 2.23 per cent, TCS dropped 1.13 per cent, Infosys 0.98 per cent, HCL Tech 0.80 per cent and Tech Mahindra 0.51 per cent on the BSE.
"Indian equities failed to hold their positive opening, despite softer oil prices and easing bond yields, as an uncertain geopolitical backdrop and weekly-expiry positioning prompted profit-taking at higher levels, with IT stocks leading the decline," Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, a Research Analyst firm, said.
The BSE MidCap Select index dipped 0.27 per cent and the SmallCap Select index was down 0.22 per cent.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, Housing Finance tanked 1.03 per cent, Focused IT 1.01 per cent, Capital Goods 0.87 per cent, IT 0.79 per cent, FMCG 0.68 per cent, Industrials 0.50 per cent, PSU Bank 0.50 per cent, Bankex 0.45 per cent and Insurance 0.45 per cent.
Telecommunication jumped 1.01 per cent, Realty 0.84 per cent, Services 0.59 per cent and Consumer Discretionary 0.38 per cent. In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended marginally higher.
European markets were trading in the positive territory. US markets ended significantly higher on Monday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 576.20 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
On Monday, the Sensex jumped 564.03 points, or 0.76 per cent, to settle at 74,858.99. Rising for the fourth day, the Nifty was up 67.90 points, or 0.29 per cent, to end at 23,414.30.
