Sensex ends 35 pts lower, Nifty50 slips to 24,124 dragged by financial stocks as D-Street retreats from record highs

Domestic equity benchmarks suffered minor losses on Tuesday, retreating from record closing highs registered the previous day, amid selling pressure in financial stocks though buying interest in IT stocks such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro limited the downside. Both headline indices finished the session not too far from their respective record closing highs the previous day, with the Sensex losing 34.7 points to 79,441.5 and the Nifty50 settling at 24,123.9, down 18.1 points for the day.

Here are key things to know about the July 2 session:    

• Shriram Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finance - closing between 1.6 per cent and 3.0 per cent lower - were the worst hit among the 28 laggards in the Nifty50 universe. 
• On the other hand, Larsen & Toubro, Wipro, Infosys, Tata Consumer Products, HDFC Bank, ONGC and Coal India - finishing the day with gains of 1-2.7 per cent - were the top gainers. 
• ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, SBI and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the biggest contributors to the fall in headline indices, whereas the maximum support came from stocks such as L&T and Infosys.
• Financial stocks were the biggest drags on the overall market, with the Nifty Bank and the Nifty Financial Services declining 0.8 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively. Financial services shares hold the maximum weightage of more than 34 per cent in the benchmark Nifty50 gauge.
• On the other hand, the Nifty IT - whose 10 constituents include TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech and Tech Mahindra - rose 1.2 per cent, also saving the headline indices from more severe cuts.
• Investors awaited the onset of a new corporate earnings season on Dalal Street for domestic cues, with the country's largest IT firm, TCS, scheduled to report its financial results for the June quarter next week.   
• Broader indices Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 fell about 0.8 per cent each. 
• While Solar Industries, Godrej Agrovet and Sumitomo Chemical India - closing 7-9 per cent higher - rose the most among some 210 gainers in the BSE 500 basket, Angel One, Max Healthcare Institute and MOFSL - falling 4-9 per cent - were the top losers.

• Brokerage stocks such as Angel One 5Paisa, SMC Glopbal and MOFSL fell after capital market regulator Sebi directed market institutions like exchanges to levy uniform charges on brokers and not on volumes.

• Overall market breadth was largely neutral as 2,040 stocks rose while 1,875 fell in the BSE-listed universe.

Catch key highlights of the July 2 session on Dalal Street here. For all other news related to business, market, tech and auto, visit Zeebiz.com.