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Benchmark equity indices closed in the red on Tuesday after three straight sessions of record highs, dragged by the Bajaj twins and IT stocks as investors looked to the United States for cues. A jump in Tata Motors on demerger plans, however, capped losses.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex declined 195 points or 0.26% to settle at 73,677. The broader NSE Nifty dropped 49 points or 0.22% to end at 22,356.

Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Bajaj Finance fell over 4% and remained top Sensex laggards. Nestle India, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, and UltraTech Cement also closed with cuts, while Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, SBI, and Sun Pharma settled with gains.

IT companies earn a significant share of their revenue from the US, where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony and key labour market data are both due later in the week. Markets are awaiting clues on future rate trajectory.

A CLSA downgrade on Tata Consultancy Services and HCLTech to ‘sell’ from ‘underperform’, citing a weak 2024 growth outlook also dragged the stocks. TCS and HCLTech fell 1.7% and 1.1%, respectively.

Nifty Auto climbed 1.3%, boosted by a 5.6% jump in Samvardhana Motherson International and 3.6% in Tata Motors, which announced plans to split into two separate listed companies.The broader, more domestically focussed small-caps and mid-caps fell 1.2% and 0.3%, respectively, as concerns persisted over excessive fund inflows into the segments.IIFL Finance closed at a 20% lower circuit, a day after India’s central bank ordered the non-bank lender to stop sanctioning, disbursing and selling gold loans with immediate effect.

“After testing its strong support of 22,300, the index has formed another DOJI candlestick pattern, which indicates indecisiveness between the bulls and bears. A convincing close above 22,420 is a must to resume its uptrend,” said Aditya Gaggar, Director of Progressive Shares.

Global Markets

Global shares eased below their recent highs on Tuesday, as the start of China’s week-long annual session of parliament lacked any big-ticket stimulus plans, leaving investors disappointed.

Mainland Chinese stocks reversed early losses with the blue-chip CSI 300 up 0.7%, amid signs of suspected state-backed buying of some exchange-traded funds.

In Europe, where many big components of the market have heavy exposure to the Chinese economy, the STOXX 600 fell 0.3%.

Oil Impact

Oil steadied on Tuesday after falling in the previous session as the prospect of a tighter market due to OPEC+ supply restraint offset concern over Chinese growth and uncertainty over the pace of interest rate cuts.

Brent crude was up 15 cents, or 0.2%, to $82.95 a barrel by 0911 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 21 cents, or 0.3%, to $78.53. Brent has gained almost 8% this year.

Rupee Ends Flat

The Indian rupee ended barely changed on Tuesday, even as most Asian currencies slipped, pressured by an uptick in US bond yields.

The rupee closed at 82.8950, unchanged from its closing level in the previous session. The currency hovered in a tight band between 82.89 and 82.9275 throughout the session.

(With inputs from agencies)

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