Sensex, Nifty rangebound; oil & gas shares rise after government cuts windfall tax

The Indian equity benchmarks were trading on a flat note on Tuesday as gains in Reliance Industries, ITC, State Bank of India, Nestle India and Axis Bank were offset with losses in HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Kotak Mahindra Bank amid subdued cues from other Asian markets. The Sensex was moving in a range of 265 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 21,480.00 and low of 21,418.65.

As of 9:23 am, the Sensex rose 23 points at 71,337 and Nifty 50 index gained 8 points to 21,426.

In Asian markets, yen dipped and the Nikkei rose after the Bank of Japan left its guidance and ultra-easy policy unchanged on Tuesday, while oil prices gained on jitters about Red Sea shipping security.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat and just below a four-month high.

Oil held overnight gains after producer BP followed other shipping firms and said it would avoid the Red Sea following recent attacks by Houthi forces. Several countries have agreed to joint patrols to try to safeguard commercial shipping.

Back home, eight of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by Nifty Oil & Gas index's nearly 1 per cent gain after government reduced windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil and diesel imports.

The government slashed windfall tax on crude oil from Rs 5,000 per tonne to Rs 1,300 per tonne. The windfall tax on diesel was cut to Rs 0.5 per litre from Rs 1 per litre.

Healthcare, consumer durables, pharma and FMCG shares were also witnessing buying interest.

On the other hand, banking, auto, financial services, IT and media shares were facing selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares were witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.21 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 0.5 per cent.

Apollo Hospitals was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.62 per cent to Rs 5,642.60 on the back of rising Covid cases in Kerala. Nestle India, Tata Consumer Products, ONGC, Coal India, Reliance Industries, ITC, Axis Bank and Bharat Petroleum also rose between 0.6-1.7 per cent.

On the flipside, Hero MotoCorp, TCS, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Adani Enterprises, Bajaj Auto and Hindalco were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,973 shares were advancing while 962 were declining on the BSE.

(With Reuters inputs)