The markets opened on a choppy note on Tuesday (August 17) tracking weak cues from global markets.
At 09:16 AM, the Sensex was down 119.91 points or 0.22 percent at 55,462.67, and the Nifty was down 37.80 points or 0.23 percent at 16,525.20. About 897 shares have advanced, 782 shares declined, and 97 shares are unchanged.
After dropping over 100 points in the opening session, the 30-share index turned positive to trade 64.21 points or 0.12 per cent higher at 55,646.79, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 14.95 points or 0.09 per cent to 16,578.
Tech Mahindra was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 3 per cent, followed by Asian Paints, Sun Pharma and Nestle India.
On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Maruti and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.
In the previous session, Sensex ended 145.29 points or 0.26 per cent higher at a new peak of 55,582.58, and Nifty advanced 33.95 points or 0.21 per cent to a fresh high of 16,563.05.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,088.32 crore on Monday, as per provisional exchange data.
According to V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, the market is slowly moving into a consolidation phase with strong support coming from largecaps, PTI said. The current trend of largecap outperformance is likely to continue in the very short term.
"Presently, there are no major global cues that can sway the market trend. But domestic cues like the sustained decline in COVID cases and economic activity returning back to normal are positives," he noted.
Asian shares down in early trade
Asian shares declined in early trade on Tuesday as growing anxiety over the spike in the Delta variant of COVID-19 infections and turmoil in Afghanistan eclipsed overnight strength on Wall Street.
Shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly lower in Tuesday morning trade despite gains overnight on Wall Street that took the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 to record closing highs. Nikkei 225 gained 0.18 percent in morning trade while the Topix index slipped fractionally. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.57 percent.
Fuel rates unchanged
Petrol and diesel prices in the country remained static for the 31st consecutive day on Tuesday. In Delhi, petrol continues to be sold for Rs 101.84 per litre, while diesel is also being sold at the unchanged price of Rs 89.87 a litre on Tuesday.
In Mumbai, where petrol price crossed the Rs 100-mark for the first time ever on May 29, the fuel price is at Rs 107.83 per litre. Diesel price in the city is also at Rs 97.45, the highest among metros.
In Kolkata, petrol is sold for Rs 102.08 a litre and diesel is priced at Rs 93.02 per litre.
Petrol price in Chennai was unchanged after Rs 3 drop on Saturday in compliance with the state government's order of a tax cut on the fuel. Petrol was retailed at Rs 99.47 per litre on Tuesday. Diesel price also remained unchanged at Rs 94.39 per litre in Chennai.
International oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.03 per cent to $69.53 per barrel.
Oil prices down
Oil prices settled lower on Monday, paring steep losses on weak Chinese economic data after sources told Reuters that OPEC and its allies believe the markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months. Brent crude settled down $1.08, or 1.5 percent, at $69.51 a barrel after earlier falling to $68.14. U.S. oil fell by $1.15, or 1.7 percent, to $67.29 after reaching lows of $65.73.
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