Sensex ends 94 points higher, Nifty falls below 20,000; TCS gains over 2%

Benchmark stock market indices ended mixed on Tuesday as investors turned cautious ahead of the release of retail inflation data later in the day.

The S&P BSE Sensex settled 94.05 points higher at 67,221.13, while the NSE Nifty50 ended the session below 20,000 amid increased volatility.

Broader market indices saw a sharper slide, with Nifty Midcap 100 falling over 3 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 down over 4 per cent.

High-weightage Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto and Nifty Financial Services ended in negative territory; Nifty Oil and Gas and Nifty Realty were the biggest losers among sectoral indices. Nifty IT was the only major sectoral index that gained over 1 per cent.

The top five gainers on the Nifty 50 were TCS, L&T, Infosys, Ultratech Cement and Dr Reddy’s. On the other hand, the top losers were BPCL, NTPC, Power Grid, Adani Enterprises and Coal India.

Om Mehra, research analyst at Choice Broking, said, “A day after hitting an all-time high, the Nifty benchmark indexes saw a big sell-off quickly after opening with a gap up.”

He said: “market may go sideways after a sharp rise and that may be considered as healthy in the long run”.

From a technical perspective, Mehra said the Nifty index has recently formed a bearish candle on the daily chart, characterized by a lengthy wick. With its closure below the significant 20,000 mark, the overall pattern suggests that the index may undergo a period of consolidation or experience profit booking at higher levels.

“For investors with a long-term perspective, could look for sectoral rotation in blue-chip stocks conversely, for short-term traders, it may be advisable to integrate hedging strategies into their trading strategies,” he added.