Sensex breaks 6-day uptrend even as IT shines

The benchmark index BSE Sensex lost more than 100 points on Tuesday pulled down by banking and finance stocks ahead of RBI's monetary policy and a dip in auto stocks after lacklustre November sales.

On the other hand, IT, media and metal stocks helped the index mitigate further losses. IT majors including Infy, Wipro and TCS gained close to 2 per cent intraday as the India rupee was back at Rs. 70 per dollar reacting improving crude oil prices in the global market.

With a ceasefire reached between the two major economies, the US and China after they agreed to suspend new tariff hikes and an impending supply cuts by OPEC, crude oil prices surged by 4 per cent in the international market. The market reacted negatively to this global cues and the BSE Sensex closed at 36,134.31, down by 106.69 points or 0.29 per cent.

Among the top gainers on BSE Sensex were ONGC, up by 2.52 per cent, INFY up by 2.18 per cent, Wipro up by 2.06 per cent, Vedanta up by 1.53 per cent and TCS up by 1.37 per cent on Tuesday. Whereas among the top losers were IndusInd Bank, NTPC, SBIN down more than 1 per cent and HDFC, M&M and Sun Pharma down more than 2 per cent.

In broader market terms, the BSE MidCap was down marginally by 0.07 per cent and the BSE SmallCap was up by 0.14 per cent. Sectorally, the BSE BankEx was at down by 0.51 per cent, BSE Auto was down by 0.38 per cent. While BSE Information Technology was up by 1.71 per cent and BSE Oil & Gas was up by 0.85 per cent at Tuesday's closing.