The Indian equity benchmarks erased early gains on Tuesday as investors were seen booking profits after over 5 per cent rally in Sensex and Nifty since the start of the calendar year 2022, analysts said. The Sensex fell as much as 332 points from day's highest level and Nifty 50 index slipped below 18,300 after hitting high of 18,350.
As of 9:48 am, the Sensex fell 106 points to 61,202 and Nifty 50 index declined 38 points to 18,270.
Asia's share markets were mostly higher on Tuesday even as global investor attention remains fixed on the prospect of U.S interest rate hikes in the next few months, after two years of unprecedented pandemic-induced policy easing, news agency Reuters reported.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is due to meet January 25-26 and while it is not expected to shift rates then, a growing number of investors think March will be the start of a tightening cycle.
Back home, foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 855 crore and domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 115 crore on Monday.
Eight of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Auto index's 1 per cent decline. Healthcare, Pharma, Media, Information Technology, FMCG and Consumer Durable shares were also facing selling pressure.
On the other hand, Oil & Gas, Real Estate, Private Bank, Banking and Financial Services shares were witnessing buying interest.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also facing selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 0.11 per cent and Nifty Smalllcap 100 index declined 0.6 per cent.
Maruti Suzuki was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 3 per cent to Rs 8,017. Eicher Motors, UltraTech Cement, Tata Consumer Products, Divi's Labs, Bajaj AUto, UPL, Grasim Industries, Hero MotoCorp, Shree Cements and HCL Technologies also fell between 1-2.8 per cent.
On the flipside, Axis Bank, Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil, Hindalco, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was negative as 1,740 shares were declining while 1,336 were advancing on the BSE.
