SENSEX, NIFTY50 edge lower; Tata Motors, Sun Pharma among top losers

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Tuesday, June 17, dragged down by losses in Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Titan and ICICI Bank. The SENSEX fell as much as 222 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 24,862 amid subdued cues from Asian markets.

As of 9:31 am, the SENSEX was down 210 points at 81,605 and NIFTY50 index fell 55 points or 0.26% to 24,893.

Global picture

Most Asian markets turned flat to negative amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. Israel and Iran attacked each other for a fifth straight day on Tuesday, and U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iranians to evacuate Tehran, citing what he said was the country's rejection of a deal to curb nuclear weapons development.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.14%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.2%, South Korea's KOSPI index was up 0.32% and Japan's Nikkei gained 0.63%.

Overnight, calm returned to Wall Street on Monday, and U.S. stocks rose, while oil prices gave back some of their initial spurts following Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets at the end of last week.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.9% to reclaim most of its drop from Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 317 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.5%. They joined a worldwide climb for stock prices, stretching from Asia to Europe, news agency AP reported.

Sectoral landscape

Back home, selling pressure was broad-based as most of the sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by NIFTY Pharma index's 0.65% fall. NIFTY Metal, Auto, PSU Bank, Healthcare, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas, Bank and Financial Services indices also fell between 0.15%-0.6%.

On the other hand, realty and select private banks were witnessing buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares were outperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 0.34% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.28%.

Stocks in action

NIFTY50 gainers and losers

ONGC was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 1.66% on account of profit booking. Sun Pharma, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement, Trent and Bajaj Finserv also fell between 1%-1.45%.

On the flipside, Asian Paints, Adani Ports, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,940 shares were advancing while 1,095 were advancing on the BSE.