In mid-day trading on Tuesday, equity benchmarks managed to trim early losses, although they still remained in negative territory amidst ongoing global recession concerns and volatile market conditions. The Sensex was down 0.18 per cent at 73,983.69, while the Nifty50 slipped 0.05 per cent to 22,449.60 at 12.30 pm.
The market opened lower following a sharp decline on Monday, which was driven by Wall Street’s worst performance of the year. However, some buying in select banking and pharma stocks helped the indices recover from their morning lows.
IndusInd Bank was the biggest drag on the markets, plunging 25.83 per cent with unusually high trading volumes. The stock had dropped 15 per cent at market open before tumbling further. IT stocks also continued to face selling pressure, with Infosys falling 2.76 per cent and Wipro declining 1.74 per cent.
On the positive side, Trent emerged as the top gainer, rising 3.07 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma with a 2.93 per cent gain. ICICI Bank, Bharat Electronics, and BPCL also provided some support to the indices by gaining between 1.87 per cent and 2.19 per cent.
The broader market saw more declines than advances, with a ratio of over 2:1. Out of 3,906 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,541 declined and only 1,220 advanced. Additionally, 238 stocks hit lower circuits while 143 touched upper circuits. The market also witnessed 193 stocks reaching 52-week lows compared to just 51 hitting 52-week highs.
Sectoral indices showed a mixed picture, with the Nifty Bank index declining 0.78 per cent and the Nifty Financial Services index rising 0.39 per cent. The Nifty Next 50 and Nifty Midcap Select indices were down 0.14 per cent and 0.21 per cent, respectively.
Analysts suggest that the Nifty has key support levels at 22,200-22,100, with stronger long-term support around 22,000. The market will continue to monitor upcoming economic data releases, such as US and India CPI figures, for further direction in the coming sessions.
The rupee opened weaker at 87.33 against the dollar, adding to the cautious sentiment in domestic markets.
