Equity markets log gains for 2nd day, power shares advance

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty closed higher for the second straight session on Tuesday, helped by buying in power and utility stocks amid positive quarterly numbers announced by heavyweight companies. However, foreign fund outflows and a muted trend in global equities capped the gains, traders said.

In a highly volatile trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 74.61 points or 0.12 per cent to settle at 60,130.71. During the day, it hit a high of 60,268.67 and a low of 60,202.77. The broader NSE Nifty gained 25.85 points or 0.15 per cent to end at 17,769.25.

"The domestic market succeeded in holding the gains, though multiple attempts were made by bears to reverse the trend considering the weak global market.

"Investors are highly nervous as they await the release of US GDP and PCE inflation data, which will guide the upcoming Fed action. The Fed is expected to raise their rates by another 25bps in its announcement on 3rd May," according to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Bajaj Finance led the Sensex gainers' chart, spurting up to 2.38 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserve rising 2.11 per cent and IndusInd Bank closing 1.66 per cent higher. Bharti Airtel, SBI and L&T increased by 1.60 per cent, 1.28 per cent and 0.92 per cent, respectively.

In contrast, HDFC twins, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Wipro and Axis Bank were among the main laggards, shedding up to 1.47 per cent. In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge remained unchanged and smallcap index inched up 0.19 per cent. Among sectoral indices, the power went up by 1.49 per cent, utilities rose by 1.32 per cent and bankex went up by 1.49 per cent, financial services rose by 1.21 per cent, oil & gas moved up 0.90 per cent and realty gained by 0.57 per cent. Besides, energy, capital goods and metal were the other gainers. On the other hand, consumer durables fell by 0.91 per cent, healthcare fell by 0.09 per cent and information and technology declined by 0.08 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong suffered losses, while Tokyo logged gains. Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the red in mid-session deals. Markets in the US closed on a mixed note on Monday. International oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.29 per cent to $82.49 per barrel. FIIs offloaded shares worth a net Rs 412.27 crore on Monday.