FINAL TRADE: Sensex settles flat at 62,793, Nifty at 18,599; tech stocks bleed

Closing Bell, June 6: The domestic benchmark indices ended Tuesday's session on a flat note amid heavy selling in technology shares. At close, the S&P BSE Sensex stood at 62,792.88, up 5.41 points, or 0.01 per cent while the NSE's Nifty ended at 18,599, up 5.15 points.

“While the markets ended flat, buying was seen in rate-sensitive stocks like banking, auto, and realty ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s MPC meet later this week. With expectations rising the central bank could once again take a pause on rate hike. Hopes of steady interest rates going ahead triggered optimism in the rate-sensitives. Technically, the market is consistently holding a higher bottom formation. For traders, 18550 would be the trend decider level. Above the same, the index could move up to 18700-18750. On the flip side, below 18550, the uptrend would be vulnerable. Below the same, the market could retest the level of 18480. Any further correction, could drag the index till 18440,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 ended on a positive note, up by 0.06 percent and 0.54 per cent respectively. In the sectoral indices, Nifty Bank was up 0.14 per cent and settled at 44164.55 and Nifty Infra hit a record high. On the flipside, Nifty IT cracked over 1 per cent after US-based EPAM Systems cut its guidance citing deterioration in the near-term demand environment and closed at 28,689.05. All the IT stocks ended lower, among which Persistent Systems fell over 4 per cent, Coforge, and Mphasis dropped over 3 per cent, Tech Mahindra, LTTS, Infosys, TCS and Wipro fell over 1 per cent, HCL Tech and LTI Mindtree declined over 1 per cent. 

Among the stocks that moved the most today were auto stocks which extended gains, Tata Motors was up 1.6 per cent and Maruti Suzuki was up nearly 2 per cent at closing. Cement stocks also ended higher, UltraTech Cement was up 2.9 per cent, JK Cement rose 0.5 per cent after the company acquired Toshali Cements. Meanwhile, Bajaj Finserv settled higher by 1.2 per cent after the company launched its Mutual Fund business. Conversely, Thermax was down 3 per cent as arbitrator asked the company to pay Rs 174 crore to customers.

UltraTech Cement was the biggest gainer in the Sensex chart, climbing 3.13 per cent, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Maruti, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance and Mahindra & Mahindra.

In contrast, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, HCL Technologies, ICICI Bank and Nestle were among the laggards.

Global Market 

In Asian markets, Tokyo ended in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower. Equity markets in Europe were trading in negative territory. The US markets ended lower on Monday.

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