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Stock Market Closing Bell: Indian equities ended mildly lower on Tuesday, weighed down by selling in IT, realty, and financial stocks amid a lack of strong global cues.

The BSE Sensex closed 150 points lower at 84,628.16, down 0.18 per cent, while the NSE Nifty 50 settled 29.85 points lower at 25,936.20, a decline of 0.11 per cent.

Most sectoral indices finished in the red, led by declines in realty, IT, financial services, and consumer durables, as investors booked profits after recent gains.

Broader market sentiment remained cautious amid mixed global trends and uncertainty over US economic data releases later this week.

However, selective buying in metal, PSU bank, media, and midcap stocks provided some cushion to the benchmark indices, limiting the downside.

PSU banks, in particular, saw renewed interest after reports suggested that the government may raise the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in public sector banks to 49 per cent, sparking optimism about potential capital inflows.

Among notable movers, SBI and other PSU bank stocks gained up to 3 per cent, while Canara Robeco AMC shares plunged over 11 per cent after the fund house reported a 20 per cent drop in Q2 net profit to Rs 49 crore.

Meanwhile, trading on the MCX resumed after a four-hour technical outage, which briefly disrupted commodity market activity earlier in the day.

Most sectoral indices traded in negative territory, reflecting profit booking and cautious investor sentiment.

Nifty Realty (-1.05 per cent), IT (-0.74 per cent), and Consumer Durables (-0.69 per cent) led the losses.

On the positive side, Nifty Metal (+1.23 per cent) and Nifty PSU Bank (+1.21 per cent) outperformed, supported by optimism around the government’s reported plan to raise the FDI limit in public sector banks to 49 per cent.

Other gainers included Nifty Bank (+0.17 per cent) and Nifty Media (+0.15 per cent).

Among broader indices, Nifty Midcap 50 gained 0.11 per cent, while Nifty Smallcap 100 edged up 0.02 per cent, indicating some buying interest in mid- and small-cap segments. However, Nifty Next 50 fell 0.51 per cent, and Nifty 100 slipped 0.18 per cent, signalling mixed participation across the board.

On the Sensex, Tata Steel led the gains, rising 2.97 per cent, followed by Larsen & Toubro (+1.23 per cent), SBI (+0.76 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (+0.54 per cent), and Bharti Airtel (+0.45 per cent).

Other notable gainers included Reliance Industries (+0.21 per cent) and HDFC Bank (+0.06 per cent).

On the losing side, Trent (-1.54 per cent), ICICI Bank (-1.05 per cent), Tech Mahindra (-1.03 per cent), Bajaj Finserv (-1.00 per cent), and Mahindra & Mahindra (-0.98 per cent) were among the top drags. IT majors like TCS (-0.90 per cent) and HCLTech (-0.80 per cent) also slipped, adding pressure to the benchmark indices.

Anubhav Maurya is a Senior Sub-Editor at Zee Business, focusing on the stock market, personal finance, corporate news, and related sectors.

He has previously worked wi