During the afternoon of Tuesday, benchmark indexes were trading in the green amid turbulence.
In the first half, after a strong start despite mixed global cues, indexes remained volatile, fluctuating between gains and losses. During the afternoon, indices were slightly higher, tracking advances in heavyweights like the HDFC twins.
The BSE Sensex was up 187.46 points, or 0.35 percent, at 54,476.07 at 1 p.m. It had a high of 54,476.23 and a low of 54,021.27 during the day. Near the day’s high of 16,262.80, the Nifty 50 was trading at 16,240.10, up 25.40 points or 0.16 percent. It hit an intraday low of 16,117.10 points.
The volatility index increased 6.6% to 24.96.
Investors were anxious after the RBI Governor hinted that further rate hikes could be on the way in order to keep inflation under control.
The biggest gainers on the Nifty 50 were HDFC, Kotak Bank, Powergrid, HDFC Bank, and Dr Reddy’s, while the top losers were Divi’s Lab, Grasim, ONGC, Tech Mahindra, and Hindustan Unilever.
Financials in focus
While the financial industry drew attention, the pharmaceutical, FMCG, IT, and real estate sectors lagged.
The Nifty Financial Services index was up 1%. Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank both gained nearly 1%, while Nifty Public Sector Bank gained 0.44 percent.
Meanwhile, the Nifty Pharma Index fell more than 1%, while the Nifty Healthcare Index fell 0.98 percent. Nifty IT was down 0.86 percent, while Nifty FMCG was down 0.63 percent. The Nifty Realty index fell 0.32 percent.
Market expansion under strain
Broader indexes were in negative territory.
The Nifty Smallcap 50 fell 0.48 percent, while the Nifty Midcap 50 down 0.26 percent. The S&P BSE Midcap fell 0.31 percent, and the S&P BSE Smallcap fell 0.29 percent.