Sensex, Nifty end marginally lower; HDFC twins, Reliance Industries weigh

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended marginally lower on Tuesday following losses in index majors HDFC twins, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank amid a weak trend in Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 52.94 points or 0.10 per cent to 52,275.57. The broader NSE Nifty declined 11.55 points or 0.07 per cent to 15,740.10.

Banking, finance and energy stocks succumbed to profit-booking, while robust buying in IT counters capped the downside for the bourses.

SBI was the top loser in the Sensex pack, slipping 1.21 per cent, followed by HDFC, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank and UltraTech Cement. On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Infosys, Titan, Dr Reddy's and ITC were among the gainers, climbing up to 2.53 per cent.

Midcap and smallcap ind­ices continued to outperform the benchmarks as improved prospects of earnings recovery continues to attract investors towards this space, said Binod Modi, Head — Strategy at Reliance Securities.