Sensex, Nifty End Subdued; Banks Gain, Real Estate Shares Fall

The SP BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes ended little changed on Tuesday as gains in heavyweights like Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and Asian Paints were offset with losses in Reliance Industries, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Unilever and Nestle India. Earlier in the day, Sensex and Nifty moved above their important psychological levels of 39,000 and 11,500 respectively, for the first time in nearly six months. However, profit booking at higher levels led to correction in markets, analysts said.

The Sensex ended 45 points or 0.12 per cent higher at 38,844 and Nifty 50 index advanced 6 points to close at 11,472.

Twelve of 19 sector gauges compiled by the BSE ended lower led by S&P BSE Realty index's over 2 per cent fall. Information technology, power, FMCG, energy, capital goods, basic materials and metal shares were also witnessed selling pressure.

On the flipside, banking and financial services shares witnessed buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares ended mixed as the S&P BSE MidCap index rose 0.5 per cent while S&P BSE SmallCap index ended on a flat note.

Tata Motors was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 5 per cent to close at Rs 128. Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, Eicher Motors, Asian Paints and Bajaj Finserv also rose between 2-5 per cent.

On the flipside, GAIL, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, Dr Reddy's Labs, Shree Cements, Larsen & Toubro, Wipro and UPL closed lower.