Sensex, Nifty End Flat; Metal, Automobile Stocks Post Strong Gains

Indian stocks turned in a lackluster performance on Tuesday as traders largely remained on the sidelines due to a lack of significant triggers. Global cues were mixed ahead of upcoming New Year holidays.

The benchmark BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 20.46 points or 0.02% at 84,675.08 after moving between 84,470.94 and 84,806.99. For much of the trading day, the index moved along the flat line.

The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty50 settled with a loss of 3.25 points or 0.01% at 25,938.85, after scaling a low of 25,878.00 and a high of 25,976.75 intraday.

Automobile, metal and PSU bank stocks turned in a good performance, while realty, consumer durables and technology stocks traded weak.

Eternatl shed about 2.1%. Indigo, Infosys and Asian Paints lost 1 to 1.4%. UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, HCL Technologies and Titan posted moderate losses.

Tata Steel climbed more than 2%. Mahindra & Mahindra advanced 2%, Bajaj Finserv added 1.7%, while Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Larsen & Toubro and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone also ended notably higher.

Bajaj Auto, up 2.3%, was the top gainer in the Nifty25 index. Hindalco climbed 2.1%. Shriram Finance gained about 2%, while JSW Steel ended 1.6% up.

Eicher Motors, Tata Consumer Products, Max Health and Apollo Hospitals Enterprises lost 1.4 to 2%.

Hindustan Copper, up 9%, extended recent gains on fairly strong volumes. Asahi India Glass, IOB, National Aluminum, Jindal Stainless, Jindal Steel, NMDC, Vedanta, JSW Steel and SAIL also moved up sharply.

Coromandel International, Omaxe, Timescan Logistics, Rajesh Exports and MMTC declined sharply.

Gujarat Kidney and Super Specialty stock debuted at Rs 120.75, a near 6% premium to the issue price. However, the stock pared gains as the day progressed and dropped to Rs 103.35, down nearly 10% from the issue price.

The market breadth was weak. On BSE, 2,259 stocks closed weak. 1,919 stocks moved up, and 181 stocks ended flat.

On the economic front, data released by the government after trading hours on Monday showed the industrial production in India grew 6.7% from the previous year in November, accelerating from the upwardly revised 0.5% increase in the previous month, to mark the sharpest pace of expansion since October of 2023.

The manufacturing output in India expanded by 8% annually in November, according to a preliminary estimate, following the upwardly revised 2% increase in the previous month.