Indian shares give up early gains; volatility at 15-month high

By Hritam Mukherjee and Bharath Rajeswaran

Indian shares give up early gains; volatility at 15-month high

BENGALURU -Indian shares gave up early gains to trade lower on Tuesday as a rise in consumer companies was offset by a fall in financials and auto stocks, with volatility rising to its highest in fifteen months.

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The blue-chip Nifty 50 fell 0.3% to 22,369 points, while S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.4% to 73,607, trimming early gains of 0.2%, each.

Domestic markets have surrendered early gains for a second straight day, ignoring the rally in global markets, which have been boosted by renewed expectations of interest rate cuts from major central banks.

The Nifty Volatility Index rose to 17.29, the highest since Jan. 30, 2023.

"The more significant factor might be the apprehensions emanating from the unexpectedly low turnout in the elections so far," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Voter turnout of 66.14% and 66.71% respectively in the first two phases has been marginally lower than corresponding phases five years back.

Fast moving consumer goods stocks rose 2.3%, driven by nearly 10% gains in top gainer Marico after it forecast revenue growth to outpace volume growth in fiscal 2025.

A bigger fourth-quarter profit also boosted Godrej Consumer Products by 6.7%, while consumer major Hindustan Unilever , biscuits maker Britannia and cigarette maker ITC were up between 2.3-4.7%.

Hopes around improvement in rural demand and expectations of a good monsoon are driving consumer stocks, said Samrat Dasgupta, chief executive officer of Esquire Capital Investment Advisors.

Meanwhile, heavyweight financial stocks lost 0.8%, dragged by 2.3% drop in Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and 2.6% dip in LIC Housing Finance. Auto stocks were down 0.6%.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

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