Nifty Struggles below 7200; FMCG & Banks Drag, Metals Shine

The market extended losses in morning trade, dragged by FMCG, banking & financials and technology stocks. Metals and select auto stocks outperformed. 

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 144.73 points or 0.61 percent to 23644.06 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 49.15 points or 0.68 percent to 7185.40. The broader markets too were under pressure with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices down nearly half a percent. The market breadth was weak as about two shares declined for every share advancing on the BSE. Markets in Asia gave up early gains on Tuesday, trading mostly lower as the improved market sentiment which spurred a global rally Monday appeared to fade. Shanghai declined over a percent.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Bankex, IT and FMCG indices were among the top sectoral losers among others.

ITC continues to remain under pressure and was down over 1% on worries over excise duty hike on cigarettes in the forthcoming Budget.

HUL was down nearly 1% on profit taking after gains in the previous session.

HDFC and HDFC Bank were down 0.7% each contributing the most to the Sensex losses.

NTPC was down 2.1% The government will divest 5% stake in the power giant through the Offer for Sale (OFS) route on Tuesday, as part of the 2015-16 disinvestment plan. It has fixed the base price at Rs 122 a share.

Other losers include, Infosys and Bharti Airtel among others.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian markets trimmed early gains and were trading mixed. Shares had gained in early trades tracking firm global crude oil prices and gains in commodities. The Nikkei was trading flat with positive bias and Straits Times was up 0.3% while Shanghai Composite was down 0.7% while Hang Seng slipped 0.2%.

US stocks ended over 1% higher on Monday after gains in crude oil prices led to rally in energy stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 1.4% at 16,621, the S&P 500 gained 1.5% at 1,946 and Nasdaq jumped 1.5% to end at 4,571.

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