Sensex, Nifty Give Up Early Gains To End Narrowly Mixed

Indian shares gave up early gains to end on a flat note Monday amid signs of escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Markets opened on a buoyant note earlier as Friday’s data showing weak U.S. job growth and contraction in U.S. services sector activity for the first time since December 2022 spurred expectations for Fed rate cuts later in the year.

Higher levels attracted profit booking as talks of a Gaza ceasefire appeared to collapse and media reports suggested that Israel’s armed forces have begun evacuating Palestinian civilians from Rafah ahead of a threatened assault on the southern Gazan city.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended the session up 17.39 points, or 0.02 percent, at 73,895.54, giving up most early gains as oil prices jumped around 1 percent after their biggest weekly drop since February.

Besides geopolitical tensions, oil prices were also supported by Saudi Arabia’s efforts to keep the market tight.

Saudi Arabia hiked selling prices for grades to Asia for the third month in a row, indicating anticipated strong demand during the summer.

The broader NSE Nifty index settled down 33.15 points, or 0.15 percent, at 22,442.70.

Titan Company shares plunged 7.1 percent after the consumer lifestyle firm reported weaker-than-expected Q4 results.

SBI, BPCL, Coal India and Adani Enterprises lost 3-4 percent.

Among the top gainers, FMCG giant Britannia Industries surged 6.6 percent after posting Q4 results in line with estimates.

Kotak Mahindra Bank rallied 5 percent after the private sector lender reported an 18 percent increase in Q4 net profit on healthy loan growth.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever and TCS all rose around 2 percent.

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