HDFC Bank, RIL drag Sensex 200 pts lower; Nifty below 22,100

From the Sensex stocks, Power Grid, NTPC, , , and Titan opened with cuts, while , , Bajaj Finserv, M&M, , and opened with gains.

Among individual shares, fell over 3% as Biege is likely to sell up to 2.9% stake in the company through block deals on Tuesday, according to various reports.

shares also rose nearly 3% in early trade after the company signed an MoU with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the construction of subway/underpass to connect the operational area to the AAI's residential colony in Kolkata.

Sector-wise, Bank fell 0.25%, and Nifty FMCG declined 0.45%. On the flip side, Nifty Auto, Metal, and Healthcare surged. In the broader market, Nifty Midcap100 rose 0.3%, while Nifty Smallcap100 fell 0.1%.

Experts Take
"Market is likely to consolidate this week in the absence of any known triggers for sharp up or down moves. Since the week is a truncated week of three trading days, volumes have dipped markedly indicating absence of significant directional move," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, .

"The recent trend of outperformance of the largecaps over the broader market, particularly the smallcaps, is likely to continue. Some froth in the broader market has been removed, but smallcap valuations continue to be high," Vijayakumar said.

Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, "Nifty can find support at 22,000 followed by 21,950 and 21,850. On the higher side, 22,150 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 22,200 and 22,300."

Global Markets
Wall Street equities closed lower overnight, after logging the best week in 2024 so far on Friday, as investors braced themselves for U.S. inflation data due later in the week and as a Federal Reserve-driven rally came to a pause.

Asian equities climbed on Tuesday. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6%, with gains for South Korean chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics leading the Kospi up 1.2%.

FII/DII Tracker
Foreign portfolio investors sold Indian shares worth Rs 3,310 crore on a net basis on Friday, while domestic institutional investors bought a net Rs 3,765 crore of stocks.

Crude Oil
Oil prices were on track to gain for a second straight day on Tuesday after settling up more than a dollar on expectations of tighter supply driven by Russian production cuts and attacks on Russian refineries.

Brent crude rose 23 cents to $86.98 a barrel in early trade on Tuesday. U.S. crude futures climbed 28 cents to $82.23.

Rupee Rises
The Indian rupee rose 29 paise to 83.61 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, increased 0.01% to 104.23 level.

(With inputs from agencies)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)