The Indian equity benchmarks declined for a second straight session on Tuesday, June 30, as sentiment remained subdued after reports suggested that Iran denied any plans of meeting with US but said that it will send an expert delegation to Doha to follow up on the release of frozen Iranian funds, Al Jazeera reported.
The SENSEX dropped as much as 399 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 23,829 on heightened volatility in the last hour of trade due to monthly expiry of June futures and option contracts.
Infosys, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries and State Bank of India were the top drags on the SENSEX.
The SENSEX ended 250 points lower at 76,479 and NIFTY50 index declined 80 points to 23,866
For June F&O series, NIFTY50 index declined 0.2% and NIFTY Bank index jumped 4.45%.
President Donald Trump said that a meeting will take place between Iran and the United States in Qatar on Tuesday, suggesting that diplomacy is still on track despite the recent military skirmishes in the Gulf.
Back home, nine of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended lower led by the NIFTY IT index’s 2.7% fall. NIFTY PSU Bank, Private Bank, FMCG, Financial Services and Bank indices also declined between 0.2% and 0.7%.
On the other hand, auto, pharma, realty, consumer durables and oil & gas shares witnessed buying interest.
Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 0.4% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 1.02%.
Among the individual shares, KEC International rose as much as 7% to hit an intraday high of ₹550 after the company informed exchanges that it won new orders worth ₹1,754 crore across various businesses. The company secured a large tower supply order in Americas.
Ola Electric advanced as much as 11% after Delhi government announced Electric Vehicle policy which called for only electric two-wheelers registration from April 1, 2028.
Eicher Motors was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 4.4% as analysts noted that the new EV policy will negatively impact the company going ahead.
Tata Consumer Products, TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Max Healthcare and HDFC Life also declined between 1.4% and 3.6%.
On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index after global investment firm Jefferies noted that softer metal prices are reducing margin risk for the company.
Jefferies added that Maruti Suzuki stands to gain as India’s PV demand has remained strong in first half of calendar year, while easing of Middle East tensions and correction in crude prices have alleviated demand-side concerns.
Titan, Bajaj Finance, Adani Enterprises, Eternal, Nestle India, Adani Ports, Tata Motors PV and Shriram Finance also rose between 1.3% and 3.4%.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,919 shares ended higher while 1,383 closed lower on the NSE.