Market Wrap, Jan 6: NIFTY50 ends at 26,178, SENSEX dips 376 points, Nifty Oil & Gas underperforms; Trent, RIL top laggards

The Indian equity market settled in red for the second consecutive session on Tuesday, January 6, with oil and gas stocks tumbling the most. Market investors remain cautious on rising global geopolitical concerns.

Shares of oil and gas stocks plunged, underperforming the main equity benchmark indices. The Nifty Oil & Gas index slipped nearly 3% to an intraday low of 11,891.05. Reliance Industries (RIL) was the biggest laggard on the index, tumbling over 5% on Tuesday.

According to exchange data, on Monday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹36.25 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹1,764.07 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, Asian markets closed higher on Tuesday, taking cues from the strong closing of US markets overnight.

Japan's Nikkei soared 1.11%, China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.48%, and South Korea's KOSPI gained 1.5%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 1.23% higher.

On Wall Street, the main indices ended higher on Monday, with oil companies leading the gains after a US military strike captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Investors bet Washington's move against Venezuela's leadership would allow US firms access to the world's largest oil reserves.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.23%, the S&P 500 jumped 0.64%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.69%.

Here are the key developments of Tuesday’s session that you need to know

As many as 3,237 stocks traded on the NSE on Tuesday. Out of this, 1,239 advanced and 1,894 declined, while 104 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicates that the market's breadth is favourable towards declines.

A total of 106 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 100 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 62 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 68 touched their lower circuit bands on Tuesday.

The market capitalisation of NSE-listed companies stood at ₹477.48 lakh crore by the end of the session.

The volatility index India VIX slipped 0.04% to close at 10.02 levels.

The NIFTY Midcap 100 index ended at 61,148.55 levels, falling 0.19%, while the NIFTY Smallcap 100 gauge settled 0.22% lower at 17,887.85 levels.

Among sectors, Nifty Oil & Gas was the biggest loser, declining 1.75%, followed by Nifty Media (-1.05%), Nifty Realty (-0.33%), and Nifty Private Bank (-0.02%).

On the contrary, Nifty Pharma (1.69%), Nifty PSU Bank (0.59%), Nifty IT (0.55%), Nifty Metal (0.29%) and Nifty FMCG (0.23%) were the gainers.

On Tuesday, 21 stocks declined on the NIFTY50 index, while 29 settled in green.

Trent took the lead among the losers’ pack, declining 8.46%, followed by Reliance Industries (-4.39%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (-2.22%), IndiGo operator InterGlobe Aviation (-1.96%) and ITC (-1.84%).

On the flip side, Apollo Hospitals (3.5%), ICICI Bank (2.8%), Tata Consumer Products (2.78%), HDFC Life Insurance (2.21%) and Bajaj Auto (1.8%) were the biggest-gaining stocks on the 50-share index.