Sensex up 173 points, Nifty ends above 8,250; Tata Motors top mover

The benchmark indices on Tuesday settled higher tracking positive trade in European markets, although investors remained cautious ahead of the key corporate results lined up for the week such as Infosys and TCS.  

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended the day at 26,899, up 173 points, while the broader Nifty50 finished at 8,288, up 53 points. 

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap outperformed the headline indices and added 0.8%, and 0.7%, respectively.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market remained strong. On the BSE, 1,662 shares rose and 1,151 shares declined. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

"Participants are currently maintaining positive yet cautious approach due to the upcoming earning season and we feel it'll continue for the entire month. At the same time, stocks are doing well and traders should remain focused on them and stay with trend rather trying to anticipate next directional move in index," said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities.

Sectors and stocks

Among sectors, All but BSE Realty (down 0.4%) ended in green. BSE Industrials (up 1.5%) was the top sectoral mover, followed by BSE Metal which gained 1.3%. Hindalco (up 4.2%), NALCO (up 4%) and Tata Steel (up 2.2%) contributed to the gains.   

BSE Auto also surged 1.3%, led by gains in MRF (up 4.4%), Tata Motors (up 3.2%) and Bharat Forge (up 3%). 

Among individual stocks, Tata Motors surged 3.2% to Rs 516 after earlier hitting its highest since November 11 as the sales of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) rose 20% to a record last year. The stock was the top Sensex gainer.

Max Ventures and Industries (MaxVIL) surged 18% to Rs 79.15 in intraday deals after New York Life Insurance Company, the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States picked up 22.51% stake for Rs 121 crore in the company. The stock ended at Rs 73, up 10%.

Engineers India (EIL) added 2.8% to Rs 157 after the company said it has received a project worth Rs 2,500 crore from the state-owned oil marketing company Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) for execution of Vizag Refinery Modernization Project (VRMP).

Meanwhile, eight sugar stocks hit their respective 52-week highs on the BSE on the ack of heavy volumes.

Balrampur Chini Mills, DCM Shriram Industries, Dhampur Sugar Mills, Dwarikesh Sugar, EID Parry, Indian Suncrose, KM Sugar Mills and Triveni Engineering & Industries hit their respective 52-week highs in intra-day trade.

Global markets 

Britain's FTSE 100 continued its climb to record highs on Tuesday while Europe's top benchmark failed to hold early gains with financials the biggest drag.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index down 0.3%, while the FTSE 100 hit a new all-time high of 7,261.16 points before paring back slightly, up 0.2%. France's CAC 40 was up 0.3% and Germany's DAX also gained 0.3% in early deals.

Among Asian markets, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.5%, but Japan's Nikkei resumed its declines, closing down 0.8% as the yen strengthened.

China's CSI 300 was little changed, largely shrugging off further signs of improvement in the industrial sector. 

(With inputs from Reuters)