Indian stocks edged lower on Tuesday as investors took a breather after benchmark Sensex hit lifetime high of 28,282.85 and closed with a loss of 14.59 points on profit-booking in IT, realty and oil & gas shares.
Surpassing all previous records, the 30-share BSE barometer resumed higher and rallied to scale a new peak but emergence of profit-booking in recent out-performers at record levels wiped off early gains. The BSE index finally settled at 28,163.29, down 14.59 points — snapping a two-day up move. Intra-day, it had touched a low of 28119.95.
Likewise, the NSE Nifty after hitting all-time high of 8,454.50, beating previous record of 8,438.10 (intra-day), fell back to close 4.85 points down at 8,425.90. on Monday, it had closed at its record high of 8,430.75.
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IT, realty, consumer durables, oil & gas, FMCG and healthcare stocks attracted profit-booking, while capital goods, power, metal, auto, banking and PSU shares recorded further gains.
In the 30-share Sensex, 16 stocks declined while 14 rose.
Stocks of HDFC fell 1.90 per cent on concerns the mortgage lender will have to shed some of its holdings in HDFC Bank after FIPB classified the parent’s holdings in the banking arm as foreign investment.
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Other Sensex laggards include Sun Pharma (1.94 per cent), Hindalco ( 1.61 per cent), ONGC (1.49 per cent), TCS (1.18 per cent), Cipla (0.81 per cent) and Infosys (0.76 per cent).
In broader markets, sugar company stocks like Shree Renuka Sugar, Balrampur Chini and Dhampur Sugar hogged the limelight on expectations of export subsidy announcement.