Sensex, Nifty open in the red; BPCL, TCS, Wipro major gainers

The BSE S&P Sensex on Monday closed 260 points or 0.62 per cent higher at 41,860 while the Nifty 50 moved up by 73 points at 12,330.

Image courtesy: Reuters

Mumbai: Indian equity indices on Tuesday (January 14) opened in the red. The Sensex opened 84.19 points down or 0.20% at 41775.50, and the Nifty too was down 19.30 points or 0.16% at 12310.20. Major gainers on the indices were BPCL, TCS, Wipro, Britannia Industries, Gail and Cipla, while Yes Bank, Tata Motors, ONGC, SBI, and ICICI Bank are top losers.

On Monday, the benchmark indices hit fresh lifetime highs as global investors awaited for US President Donald Trump and Chinese officials to sign the long-awaited phase one trade deal later this week. 

The BSE S&P Sensex closed 260 points or 0.62 per cent higher at 41,860 while the Nifty 50 moved up by 73 points at 12,330. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty realty ticking up by 2 per cent, IT by 1.6 per cent, metal by 1.2 per cent and FMCG by 1.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian share markets rose today and safe-haven assets slid as signs of goodwill between China and the United States supported optimism for global growth, with the world`s two biggest economies preparing to formalise a trade-war truce.

China`s offshore yuan extended strong gains to the dollar on Tuesday morning to a 5-1/2-month high, supported by rising optimism towards Sino-US trade developments. The offshore yuan surged to a high of 6.8745 per dollar, the firmest level since July 26.

The moves come as a high-level Chinese delegation arrived in Washington ahead of Wednesday`s signing of the Phase 1 trade agreement, a step toward de-escalating a prolonged dispute that has hurt the world economy.

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan opened at an all-time high and drifted higher.

Japan`s Nikkei added 0.8% and hit its highest point in a month. Australia`s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% and touched a fresh record intraday high. Gold fell and the safe-haven Japanese yen dropped to a seven-month low.

Overnight Wall Street made new record closing highs, driven by sharp rises in tech stocks as investors bet firms such as Facebook Inc, Microsoft and Apple Inc might have the most to gain from a growing global economy.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to a record closing high, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1% and also closed at a record peak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29%.

In tandem with the rally, safe-haven assets slipped and slid lower on Tuesday. Gold extended Monday`s fall to trade 0.2% weaker at $1545.15 per ounce.

Oil prices nursed losses and yields on benchmark US Treasuries rose as prices fell. US crude sat at $58.14 a barrel. Ten-year Treasury note yields rose to 1.8546% compared with its US close of 1.848%.

In currency markets, the Japanese yen weakened past the 110 yen-per-dollar mark while the trade-exposed yuan stood at its highest since July.

(With Agency Inputs)