Markets end marginally higher amid intense buying in blue-chips & foreign fund inflows

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ticked higher for the second straight session in a volatile trade on Tuesday as investors turned cautious amid concern over geopolitical tensions.

However, intense buying in blue-chips Reliance Industries, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and unabated foreign capital inflows supported the domestic market.

The 30-share BSE benchmark gauge climbed 70.01 points or 0.09 per cent to settle at 80,288.38.

The NSE Nifty ended marginally up by 7.45 points or 0.03 per cent to 24,335.95.

From the Sensex firms, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, Eternal, HCL Tech, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Bajaj Finserv were the biggest gainers.

In contrast, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the laggards.

The BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.23 per cent and smallcap index went up marginally by 0.09 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Focused IT rallied 1.23 per cent, IT (1.13 per cent), capital goods (0.94 per cent), teck (0.76 per cent), industrials (0.70 per cent) and consumer durables (0.60 per cent).

Metal, utilities, commodities, telecommunication, services, bankex and financial services were the laggards.

The rupee gained 27 paise to settle at 84.96 against the US dollar on Tuesday amid a decline in crude oil prices and steady FII inflows.

FIIs bought equities worth Rs 2,474.10 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.