Nifty ends below 8650, Sensex ends flat; ITC gains

The market on Tuesday ended flat with the Sensex down 21.41 points at 27981.71, while the Nifty was down 13.65 points or 0.2 percent at 8622.90.

Shares such as ITC gained four percent while Maruti, Hero and ONGC were amongst gainers. The losers category involved HDFC, Tata Motors, BHEL, Bharti Airtel and GAIL.

Voltas, the largest air conditioning company in India, said its consolidated profit shot up 53.7 percent to Rs. 157.6 crore compared with year-ago period. It was boosted by main segment unitary cooling products that contributed 65 percent to total revenue.

Revenue during the quarter jumped 18.6 percent to Rs. 1,855.2 crore compared with Rs. 1,564.3 crore corresponding period of last fiscal.

The company in its statement said that led by sustained hot weather and increase in consumer demand across the country, unitary cooling products segment revenue was higher by 28 percent and segment result (earnings before interest and tax) was higher by 56 percent.

On the other hand, markets speculates the RBI to keep the key interest rates on hold in the upcoming policy meet as inflation for the second quarter has hastened to 5.7 percent and July-August prints may also stay high.

According to the global financial services major, the room for further easing by the Reserve Bank is dependent on the inflation path and make-up of the monetary policy committee.

The second quarter (April-June) inflation hastened to 5. 7 percent year-on-year, with a high likelihood that July-August prints will also stay high.

This diminishes the window to cut rates this quarter (July-September).