Sensex, Nifty close lower on selling in Reliance, spike in retail inflation

Benchmark stock indices closed lower on Tuesday following losses in bellwether Reliance Industries and retail inflation hitting a nine-month high in September.

Paring early gains, the BSE Sensex declined 152.93 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 81,820.12.

During the day, it fell by 337.48 points or 0.41 per cent to a low of 81,635.57.

The NSE Nifty settled lower by 70.60 points or 0.28 per cent to 25,057.35.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Maruti were the biggest laggards.

Reliance Industries Ltd, India's most valuable company, on Monday reported a 5 per cent fall in the July-September quarter net profit as weak oil refining and petrochemical business hurt operational performance.

ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Adani Ports, UltraTech Cement and HCL Technologies were among the gainers.

IT services major HCL Technologies (HCLTech) on Monday reported a 10.51 per cent increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,235 crore in the July-September quarter of FY25, as the company raised the lower band of its growth guidance on the back of better-than-expected performance.

"The sharp cut in Brent crude ... is a macro positive for India, but CPI inflation for September coming worse-than-expected at 5.49 per cent is a concern and the MPC will be forced to take this seriously and postpone the rate cut to 2025," said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Soaring vegetable prices pushed the retail inflation rate to a nine-month high of 5.49 per cent in September, according to government data released on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dropped 4.71 per cent to $73.81 a barrel.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo settled in the positive territory while Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,731.59 crore on Monday, according to exchange data. However, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,278.09 crore.