Sensex Up 87 Pts, Nifty Nearly Flat At 19,970; Metal Stocks Shine, Maruti, Power Grid Slip

Domestic equities opened flat for the second session straight on Tuesday, tracking global cues, and ahead of key Q1 results, such as PVR Inox and Adani Total Gas. BSE benchmark Sensex opened 31.76 points, or 0.05 per cent lower at 66,559.43, while broader NSE Nifty50 was up 6.90 points, or 0.03 per cent at 19,760.70.

By 9.30 am, Sensex was trading 87.13 points, or 0.13 per cent higher at 66,614.80, while Nifty 50 gained 15.90 points, or 0.08 per cent to trade at 19,769.70.

Maruti Suzuki slipped over 1 per cent after India’s largest automobile company’s net profit for the June quarter more than doubled to Rs 2,485 crore, and its revenue from operations jumped 22 per cent to Rs 32,326.9 crore.

ITC jumped over 1 per cent to trade at Rs 466.95, after the company announced that it will hold a board meeting for its Q1 results on August 14, and also will consider the Scheme of Arrangement for the demerger of the Hotels Business.

Power Grid was the top loser in the Sensex index, down 3.50 per cent, fter the company’s net profit declined nearly 6 per cent to Rs 3,542.7 crore, from Rs 3,801 crore in the year-ago period.

NTPC, Tata Motors, Hindalco, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Adani Enterprises, Hero MotoCorp, Divis Lab, M&M, Eicher Motors and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers in the morning session.

On the other hand, Power Grid, UPL, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC, Bajaj Finserv, BPCL, Apollo Hospital, Hindustan Unilever, SBI Life, and HCLTech were the topmost drag.

Broader markets continued to outperform key indices today, as all indices were trading in green. Nifty Smallcap 50 rose 0.74 per cent, Nifty Microcap 250 gained 0.87 per cent, Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.65 per cent, Nifty Smallcap 250 climbed 0.51 per cent, and Nifty Midsmallcap 400 jumped 0.42 per cent.

Sectorally, only realty and oil & gas indices were trading in red by 9.30 am, as Nifty Metal jumped 0.88 per cent, Nifty Media climbed 0.48 per cent, Nifty Consumer Durables gained 0.38 per cent, PSU Bank index rose 0.33 per cent, and pharma rose 0.26 per cent.