Indian shares were largely unchanged on Tuesday, as investors creamed off profits after six sessions of gains. Stocks had run up last week on expectations that the current coalition government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi would return to power after the general election starting next month.
“There is still some optimism in the market. There has been a run-up in the past few sessions and profit booking is inevitable,” said Saurabh Jain, AVP Research, SMC global securities. “This profit booking will last for a short time. Broadly, things are looking good, we are seeing some confidence return.”
The broader NSE index rose 0.09 per cent to 11,471.65 as of 0559 GMT. The benchmark BSE index was 0.11 per cent higher at 38,137.92. Both the indexes had gained 3.9 per cent over the past six sessions.
Eicher Motors Ltd and Hero MotoCorp Ltd were among the biggest losers on the NSE index, falling over 2 per cent each.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd and Bharti Infratel Ltd both climbed over 3 per cent and were the top gainers.
Shares of IT services company Mindtree Ltd were trading 1.7 per cent lower after conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Ltd said it would buy a 20.32 per cent stake in Mindtree for 32.69 billion rupees($477.1 million).
Shares of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications Ltd were locked in the upper circuit after his elder brother Mukesh Ambani, the country’s richest man helped pay off debt owed to Sweden’s Ericsson.