Sensex, Nifty edge lower weighed down by losses in Infosys, Reliance Industries

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Tuesday weighed down by losses in index heavyweights like Infosys , Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank , Hindustan Unilever , Tata Consultancy Services and ITC. However, the losses were capped owing to buying interest in metal shares after China announced a slew of stimulus measures to boost the economy. The Sensex fell as much as 213 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 25,886.85.

As of 9:21 am, the Sensex was down 106 points at 84,821 and Nifty 50 index slipped 17 points to 25,922.

Chinese stocks and bonds rallied and Asian stocks hit 2-1/2-year highs as Governor Pan Gongsheng announced plans to lower borrowing costs and inject more liquidity into the economy, as well as to ease households' mortgage repayment burden.

Overnight, US stocks closed modestly higher on Monday as investors assessed whether a trend will develop in the week following the Federal Reserve’s rate cut.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 61.29 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 42,124.65, the S&P 500 gained 16.02 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 5,718.57 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 25.95 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 17,974.27.

Back home, seven of thirteen sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty PSU Bank and IT indices' 0.5 per cent fall. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, FMCG and Realty indices were also trading with a negative bias.

On the other hand, metal stocks were witnessing buying interest after China announced measures to boost the economy by cutting interest rates. The measure of metal stocks on National Stock Exchange rose 1.6 per cent. Pharma, healthcare and media shares were also witnessing a mild buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares were outperforming their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indexes rose 0.2 per cent each.

Bajaj Finance was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 1.22 per cent to Rs 7,502. Infosys , Shriram Finance, HDFC Life, SBI Life, Wipro , Hindustan Unilever , HCL Technologies, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank also fell between 06-1 per cent.

On the flipside, Tata Steel, Hindalco, JSW Steel , Nestle India, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Motors, Power Grid and Adani Enterprises were among the gainers.

(With Reuters inputs)