Nifty ends flat at 22,749.75 as small caps jump 2.7% and bank stocks hold the index back

On the screen, Tuesday looked like a day when nothing happened. The Nifty 50 closed at 22,749.75, down 3.45 points (0.02%). The Sensex ended at 73,598.67, down 8.08 points (0.01%).

Underneath, it was a busy and mostly positive day. More than twice as many stocks rose as fell and small companies led the way.

• Nifty 5022,749.75, −3.45 pts (−0.02%). It swung between 22,636.85 and 22,829.75.
• Sensex73,598.67, −8.08 pts (−0.01%).
• Bank Nifty53,974.90, −391.80 pts (−0.72%).
• Midcap / SmallcapNifty Midcap 100 up about 1%; Nifty Smallcap 100 up 2.69%.
• Breadth2,455 stocks advanced, 1,103 declined and 107 were unchanged, per DSIJ.

Tuesday was also the monthly derivatives expiry, which often makes trading choppy. New to the indices? See how the Sensex and Nifty work.

A flat index, a strong market

How can the Nifty be flat when most shares rose? The Nifty is weighted by company size, so a few big banks can cancel out gains across hundreds of smaller stocks. That is what happened.

HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI together took about 66 points off the Nifty (FIN2DAY calculation from DSIJ data). Bharti Airtel alone added almost 42.

Sectors: pharma, realty and autos up; banks and IT down

Media was the best sector, up 3.66%. Pharma rose 1.91% and autos 1.48% as investors picked stocks on quarterly results. Financial services fell 0.62% and IT slipped 0.26%, which kept the benchmarks from following the rest of the market higher.

Who moved

• Tata ConsumerUp 6.78% to ₹1,000, the top Nifty gainer. Its Q2 profit rose 16% to ₹470 crore and revenue grew 14%, per Kotak Neo.
• Bharti AirtelUp 3.20% to ₹1,978.80, the single biggest support for the Nifty.
• Bajaj AutoUp 3.17% to ₹10,390 on results day. It reported Q2 standalone profit up 35% to ₹3,354 crore on revenue of ₹20,003 crore, up 34%.
• LaggardsAsian Paints fell 1.94%, Coal India 1.73% and Grasim 1.67%. Among Sensex stocks, SBI, Axis Bank, TCS and HDFC Bank also ended lower.
• Outside the NiftySona BLW Precision Forgings jumped 8.95%. Cipla reported a 35% fall in Q2 profit on weak North America sales.

Oil, the rupee and foreign money

Brent crude was at $115.73 a barrel in futures trade during Indian hours, near a six-month high, per PTI. Attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure have kept supply fears high. Read what $100-plus oil does to India.

The rupee rose 3 paise to ₹95.12 to the dollar (provisional), from Monday's final close of ₹95.15. Dealers credited likely RBI intervention. It had lost 77 paise over the previous three sessions.

Foreign institutions sold a net ₹1,462.49 crore of shares on Monday, while domestic institutions bought ₹2,609.57 crore. That split continues a pattern we explain in FPIs sell, DIIs buy.

What to watch next

• US FedEnds its two-day meeting on 28 October (US time). Rates are expected to stay unchanged, so the guidance matters more. Background: how a Fed move reaches India.
• Jio PlatformsLists on the NSE and BSE on 28 October. The upper end of the price band was ₹1,119. See who bid for the IPO.
• DataSeptember industrial production is due on 28 October.
• Q2 resultsMaruti Suzuki, L&T and Tata Steel were among about 110 companies scheduled to report on Tuesday; TVS Motor, Asian Paints, Trent, Sun Pharma, BEL, Indian Oil, Bank of Baroda and GAIL are due this week.

LKP Securities' Vatsal Bhuva noted the Nifty closed above its 20-day and 200-week averages. He sees support at 22,600 and resistance at 22,800, with 23,000 possible on a sustained break higher. Monday's update is here.

Educational content only, not investment advice.