By Bharath Rajeswaran
Indian shares swung between gains and losses on Tuesday, as gains in auto and media stocks were mostly offset by a slide in metals, ahead of the domestic GDP data for the December quarter.
The Nifty 50 index fell 0.13% to 17,370.40, while the S&P BSE Sensex edged 0.10% lower to 59,225.81 as of 11:02 a.m. IST. Both benchmarks traded between 0.3% gains and 0.3% losses during the session.
Eight of the 13 sectoral indexes advanced with auto stocks adding nearly 1% ahead of the monthly sales numbers, due on Wednesday.
Media index rose nearly 2%, powered by Zee Entertainment, which climbed as much as 6.48% after being reincluded in the derivatives segment.
Metals fell nearly 1% and was among the top sectoral losers.
There are competing factors at play, two analysts said, pointing to the rise in demand from China’s reopening and a potential fall in demand due to rate hikes in the U.S.
“A reality check for markets,” said Pramod Gubbi, co-founder of Marcellus Investment Managers, referring to the recent macroeconomic data from the U.S.
“High interest rates means the money would rather stay in the U.S. than trickle to emerging markets like India,” Gubbi added.
Foreign portfolio investors have so far offloaded 325.18 billion rupees ($3.93 billion) worth of Indian equities in 2023, according to official data.
Nifty is the worst performer so far this year among global benchmark stock indexes, falling nearly 4%.
Investors now await domestic GDP data for the December quarter, due later in the day, which is expected to show year-on-year growth slowing to 4.6%.
Among individual stocks, real estate firm Macrotech Developers rose over 3% after analysts flagged potential gains while IT services firm Mastek climbed to a record high after announcing a partnership for an artificial intelligence project in the retail sector.
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