By Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) – India’s benchmark indexes closed little changed on Tuesday, after five days of losses, as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of a local holiday and the monthly derivatives expiry.
The Nifty 50 dipped a marginal 0.03% lower to end at 22,547.55. The BSE Sensex, however, edged 0.2% higher to close at 74,602.12.
Nine of the 13 major sectors declined, while the mid-cap and small-cap indexes lost 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively.
Indian markets will be closed on Wednesday for a local holiday. The Nifty 50’s monthly derivatives contracts will expire on Thursday, which could trigger volatility as traders roll over their positions.
“Investors were likely on the sidelines as they do not want to keep any aggressive open positions with the market closed on Wednesday and F&O expiry on Thursday,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
The Nifty and Sensex are down 14% and 13% from their record high levels hit in September, rattled by a slowdown in the economy and in corporate earnings, as well as rising foreign investor sales and global trade uncertainty.
The persistent news flow on U.S. tariffs is forcing investors to close positions before the holidays, Nair said.
Metal stocks fell 1.5% and were the worst hit on U.S. plans to curb Chinese investments in strategic areas such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors. [MET/L]
Most Asia markets fell, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index down 1.4%. [MKTS/GLOB]
In India, financials and auto rose 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively, offsetting the losses in most other sectors.
Mahindra & Mahindra’s 2.5% gain led the advance in auto stocks as brokerages said Tesla’s entry into India would not have a major impact on local automakers.
Bharti Airtel rose 2.5% after Goldman Sachs raised its target price and earnings estimates for the company.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Sumana Nandy, Sonia Cheema and Savio D’Souza)
