Indian stock markets ended lower in a volatile trading session on Tuesday, with the Nifty closing below the 23,900 mark. The benchmark indices erased their early gains and oscillated between positive and negative territory throughout the day.
At the close, the Sensex fell 249.70 points, or 0.33 per cent, to settle at 76,478.67, while the Nifty declined 80.50 points, or 0.34 per cent, to close at 23,865.75. The Nifty Midcap index gained 0.4 per cent, while the Smallcap index advanced 1 per cent.
Among the sectoral indices, Nifty IT was the worst performer, plunging 2.73 per cent, while Nifty FMCG fell 0.68 per cent. The Nifty IT index has declined nearly 30 per cent so far this year.
Bank Nifty slipped 0.32 per cent, and the Nifty Financial Services index lost 0.16 per cent. On the positive side, Nifty Realty rose 1.31 per cent, while the Consumer Durables index gained 1.16 per cent.
On the Nifty, 25 stocks ended in the green. The top gainers were Maruti Suzuki India, Titan Company, Bajaj Finance, Adani Enterprises and Eternal. Among the major losers were Eicher Motors, Tata Consumer, TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra.
On the BSE, 162 stocks touched their 52-week highs, while 91 stocks hit their 52-week lows.
Stocks that reached 52-week highs included Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Federal Bank, Aurobindo Pharma, GMR Airports, FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa), Phoenix Mills and Zydus Lifesciences. Those touching 52-week lows included Infosys, TCS, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Persistent Systems and ONGC.
Auto stocks reversed their early losses to end in positive territory. Maruti Suzuki India emerged as the top gainer, rising around 5 per cent, while Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles advanced 2.10 per cent and Exide Industries gained 1.28 per cent.
US stock futures traded higher as the rebound in technology and chip stocks extended. The S&P 500 had risen 1.2 per cent in the previous session, while the Nasdaq 100 climbed about twice as much. Crude oil prices traded with modest gains, with Brent crude hovering near $74 a barrel.