Sensex, Nifty end with slight gains as investors remain cautious

Mumbai, July 1 (IANS) The Indian stock markets ended on a flat note with a slight positive bias on Tuesday, as investors remained cautious ahead of the US reciprocal tariff deadline on July 8.

The focus remained on trade negotiations between India and the United States, amid the possibility of a trade deal likely this week.

After touching an intra-day high of 83,874.29, the Sensex finally closed at 83,697.29, gaining 90.83 points or 0.11 per cent.

Similarly, the Nifty added 24.75 points or 0.1 per cent to settle at 25,541.8.

Among the 30-share index, the top gainer was BEL, which closed the intraday trading session 2.51 per cent higher.

Other notable gainers included Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Titan, and Bharti Airtel.

On the flip side, the top losers were Axis Bank, Trent, Eternal (formerly Zomato), Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, TCS, and others.

The broader market showed mixed signals. The Nifty Midcap100 index closed flat, while the Nifty Smallcap100 index slipped slightly, down by 0.10 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty PSU Bank, Metal, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, Healthcare, and Pharma ended in the green. However, sectors like Auto, IT, Energy, FMCG, Media, and Realty saw a decline.

The total market capitalisation of all listed companies on the NSE stood at Rs 5.36 trillion.

On the volatility front, the India VIX, which measures market uncertainty, dropped by 2.01 per cent to close at 12.5, indicating lower fear among investors.

Gold traded positive as dollar weakness continued to support prices. Comex Gold surged by $30 to $3345, while MCX Gold rose by Rs 1200, settling around Rs 97,300.

“The sentiment remains buoyant this week, driven by expectations around key US economic data, particularly the Non-Farm Payrolls, unemployment figures, and ADP non-farm employment change,” Jateen Trivedi of LKP Securities said.

Additionally, Rupee traded positive with gains of 0.28 per cent at 85.51, supported by a weaker Dollar Index trading below 97.00 and sustained crude oil price weakness.

“Rupee is expected to trade in a range of 85.20 to 85.80," Trivedi mentioned.

--IANS

pk/na