Indian shares ended nearly flat for a second straight session on Tuesday amid weak Asian markets, while losses in auto stocks led by Tata Motors offset gains in energy and IT stocks. The benchmark BSE index fell 0.04 percent to 28,339.31. The broader NSE index closed down 0.14 percent at 8,792.30, dragged by Tata Motors. The stock fell as much as 7.7 percent in its biggest intra-day percentage fall in nearly three months after reporting a 96 percent slump in December-quarter profit.
Reliance Industries and GAIL were among the top gainers while Hero MotoCorp was among the top losers. Nifty Auto index, which has risen about 9 pct this year, was trading 0.54 percent lower. Foreign institutional inflows have been subdued after the government decided to ban higher denomination notes on November 8.
"There isn't much action driving the market at the moment ... It will take another quarter to recover (from demonetisation effect)," said Kaushik Mukherjee, Partner, BMR Legal. Foreign investors have net purchased shares worth net $326.06 million so far this month and $319.67 million this year. They had net bought stocks worth $2.90 billion in 2016, down from a net $3.27 billion invested in 2015.
The Nifty PSU Bank index fell 0.55 percent. It lost about 3 percent in the previous session. State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp's shares fell as much as 3.5 percent in their biggest intraday percent drop since December 15, 2016 after Dec-quarter average gross refining margin fell to $5.57 per barrel.