Market Wrap, August 12: NIFTY50 settles at 24,487, SENSEX falls 368 points; Bajaj Finance, Trent top losers

The Indian equity benchmark indices settled lower after a volatile session on Tuesday, August 12, amid weak global cues and cautious investors ahead of retail inflation data.

Foreign fund outflows and the US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin Alaska meeting on Friday also kept investors on edge.

Meanwhile, pharma, auto and oil and gas stocks outperformed the main equity benchmark indices.

According to exchange data, on Monday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹1,202.65 crore on a net basis, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹5,972.36 crore worth of equities.

On the global front, stocks in Asia settled mixed on Tuesday after Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days. Japanese shares, however, had hit an all-time peak.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 2.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 0.15% up, the Shanghai Composite ended 0.50% up, while South Korea's KOSPI slipped 0.53%.

On Wall Street, the main indices ended lower on Monday as investors anxiously await inflation data to assess the outlook for interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 200.52 points, or 0.45%, to end at 43,975.09; the S&P 500 fell 16.00 points, or 0.25%, to close at 6,373.45; and the Nasdaq Composite fell 64.62 points, or 0.3%, to settle at the 21,385.40 level.

As many as 3,064 stocks traded on the NSE on Tuesday. Out of this, 1,422 advanced and 1,544 declined, while 98 scrips remained unchanged.

This, however, indicates that the market breadth favoured declines.

A total of 36 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 64 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 97 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 45 touched their lower circuit bands on Tuesday.

NSE-listed firms' market capitalisation stood at ₹440.15 lakh crore.

The volatility index India VIX inched up marginally by 0.12% to 12.23 levels.

The broader market settled mixed, with the NIFTY Midcap 100 index losing 0.27%, ending at 56,324.85 levels, while the NIFTY Smallcap 100 gauge settled marginally up by 0.04% at 17,498.10 levels.

Bajaj Finance took the lead among top gainers, falling 2.83%. Trent (-1.39%), Hindustan Unilever (-1.37%), Nestle India (-1.36%) and Eternal (-1.33%) were the other biggest losing stocks.

On the contrary, Tech Mahindra (2.03%), Maruti Suzuki (1.98%), Hero MotoCorp (1.79%), Mahindra & Mahindra (1.56%) and NTPC (1.19%) were the top gainers on the 50-share index.