Indian indices pared morning gains to end lower on Tuesday as worries surrounding the second wave of COVID continued after more stated announced fresh restrictions.

Share Market Live

NSE

The Sensex ended 244 points lower at 47,706 while the Nifty fell 63 points to settle at 14,296. Losses in IT, FMCG and financials mainly dragged the indices during the day. Broader markets, however, outperformed benchmarks, with the midcap index up 0.3 percent and smallcap index up 1 percent. Market breadth in favours of advances with the advance-decline ratio at 3:2.

India recorded 2,59,170 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours taking the total number of cases to 1,53,21,089. The number of active cases surpassed the 20-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The frontline indices rose in early deals after the government said on Monday it would let all citizens over the age of 18 have COVID-19 vaccinations from May 1, and would waive customs duty on vaccine imports. However, the gains were short-lived.

"Indian markets witnessed a bounce-back in its opening trade, however, failed to hold onto its early gains due to weak global cues and the possibility of a stricter lockdown in Maharashtra. Despite the vaccine drive kindling hopes of recovery, the trend in the market will depend on positive developments like decreasing covid cases and lifting restrictions. IT and FMCG were the sectoral laggards while mid and small-caps outperformed," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

On the Nifty50 index, Dr Reddy's, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Life and Tata Consumer were the top gainers while UltraTech Cement, HCL Tech, HDFC, Shree Cement, and Grasim led the losses.

Among sectors, Nifty IT fell the most, down 1.3 percent while Nifty Fin Services and Nifty FMCG lost around half a percent. Meanwhile, losses were capped as Nifty Pharma and Nifty Auto added over 1 percent each. Nifty Metal was also in the green for the day.

Share price of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company (ICICI Pru) rose over 5 percent after the company reported a good set of numbers overall for the March quarter even as its profit declined for the period. The sentiment was also lifted as brokerages remained bullish on the stock after the earnings.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories share price gained over 3 percent after the company said it is going to roll out the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine by May-end or early June. The Indian drug regulator had approved the Russian-made vaccine for emergency use earlier this month.

(Edited by : Pranati Deva)

First Published:Apr 20, 2021 3:35 PM IST