Markets settle modestly lower in volatile trade after investors offloaded FMCG, IT and banking stocks

Mumbai: The Sensex and Nifty closed modestly lower on Tuesday after investors offloaded FMCG, IT and banking stocks in the last hour of trade amid mixed global cues.

The selling pressure emerged towards the fag-end of the session.

After rising over 320 points in intra-day trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex pared all gains to settle 48.99 points or 0.08 per cent lower at 59,196.99. During the day, it hit a high of 59,566.67 and a low of 58,974.26.

The NSE Nifty also slipped 10.20 points or 0.06 per cent to 17,655.60.

From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance and Nestle were among the major laggards.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries and Power Grid were among the major gainers.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai ended in the green, while Hong Kong settled lower.

Equities in Europe were trading higher during the mid-session deals. The US markets were closed on Monday.

"Domestic indices wiped out its early gains to close flat, tracking mixed global cues," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 2.37 per cent to USD 93.47 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 811.75 crore on Monday, as per the exchange data.

"Nifty failed to capitalise on the early gain as profit-taking happened," said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.