Market ends marginally lower; Sensex drops 238 points, Nifty loses 50 points

The domestic equity benchmark indices ended lower on Tuesday dragged down by IT and bank stocks as investors continued to maintain a cautious outlook amid the escalating tensions in West Asia and rising crude oil pricesThe 30share BSE Sensex slipped 23841 points or 031 per cent to settle at 7747011 while the 50share NSE Nifty was down by 5080 points or 021 per cent to end at 2418770The Sensex had dropped 5889 points to 7764963 at the opening while the Nifty had declined to 2421605 losing 2245 points from the previous closeldquoFor the second consecutive session the market traded within a narrow range reflecting the ongoing lack of directional convictionrdquo Shrikant ChouhanHead of Equity Research Kotak Securities saidThe gainers and the laggardsAmong the Sensex pack Bajaj Finserv emerged as the biggest gainer rising by 207 per cent InterGlobe Aviation UltraTech Cement HCL Tech Mahindra amp Mahindra and Titan were also among the gainers However HDFC Bank stocks continued to fall for the second day with the shares declining 2 per cent after the private sector lenderrsquos net interest margin shrunk during the June quarter Reliance Industries State Bank of India Tata Consultancy Services Infosys and Trent were also among the laggardsOn Monday the benchmark indices fell sharply before making a recovery in the trade later The Sensex had shed 44293 points or 057 per cent to settle at 7770852 while the Nifty had declined 9580 points or 039 per cent to end at 2423850 amid rising crude oil prices that had breached USD 90 per barrel levelMacroeconomic cuesldquoAt present the broader market is trading in a mixed range reflecting large caps underperformance driven by moderating inflows amid rising geopolitical risks and higher crude oil pricesrdquo Vinod Nair Head of Research Geojit Investments saidBrent crude the global oil benchmark climbed 066 per cent to USD 9003 per barrel as per PTI reportAccording to Bajaj Broking Research Brent crude oil prices hovering near theUSD 90 per barrelmark remained a key concern raising fears of higher inflation and its potential impact on corporate marginsldquoDomestic equities are expected to remain rangebound amid continued geopolitical tensions in West Asia Brent crude oil prices nearUSD90 per barrel weak rupee persistent Foreign Institutional Investor FII selling and mixed global cues While the ongoing Q1FY27 earnings season is expected to drive stockspecific action investor sentiment will continue to be influenced by developments in West Asia and the trajectory of crude oil pricesrdquo Siddhartha Khemka Head of Research Wealth Management Motilal Oswal Financial ServicessaidForeign Institutional Investors FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 112104 crore on Monday while in Asian markets South Korearsquos KOSPI rebounded by 356 per cent Japanrsquos Nikkei 225 climbed 326 per cent and Hong Kongrsquos Hang Seng index ended marginally lower as per PTI reportWith inputs from PTI