Mumbai: The Indian stock markets ended in the red on Tuesday, even after starting the day on a strong note. The Sensex and Nifty, both benchmark indices, saw gains in the morning but fell in the last hour due to profit booking in banking and auto stocks.
The BSE Sensex dropped 206.61 points (0.26 percent) to close at 80,157.88. It had touched a high of 80,761.14 during the day but fell over 750 points from that level by the end of the session.
The NSE Nifty also lost 45.45 points (0.18 percent) to finish at 24,579.60, after touching a high of 24,756.10 earlier in the day.
Among the stocks that fell were Mahindra & Mahindra, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, and Larsen & Toubro.
On the other hand, Power Grid, NTPC, Tata Steel, and Hindustan Unilever were the top gainers of the day.
According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, the markets fell due to profit booking after strong macroeconomic data. Investors are also being cautious ahead of the GST Council meeting on September 3 and 4, and the F&O expiry.
The GST Council is expected to discuss possible changes in tax rates during its two-day meeting in New Delhi.
Asian stock markets had a mixed day. While South Korea’s Kospi and Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended higher, China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed lower. European markets were also trading in the red.
Meanwhile, US markets were closed on Monday due to the Labour Day holiday.
In commodity markets, Brent crude oil rose 1.72 percent to $69.36 per barrel.
On the investment side, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,429.71 crore, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 4,344.93 crore.
