Sensex snapped its four-day record breaking run in volatile trade today amid mixed global cues. Sensex closed 162 points lower at 55,629 and Nifty dropped 45 points to 16,568.
During the day, Sensex scaled a lifetime high of 56,118 and Nifty touched a record of 16,701.
In four sessions preceding today’s session, Sensex rallied 1,267 points. In six sessions preceding today’s session, Nifty gained 356 points.
Kotak Bank was the top loser on Sensex today, shedding 2.09 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, PowerGrid, HDFC, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank.
Top Sensex gainers were UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India and Bajaj Auto rising up to 2.46%.
Of 30 Sensex stocks, 20 closed in the red.
On the 50-stock Nifty, 30 shares ended in the red against 20 closing in green.
Top Nifty gainers were Eicher Motors, Ultratech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Adani Ports and Grasim, rising up to 2.66%.
Kotak Bank, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, SBI Life and Tata Motors were the top Nifty losers, falling up to 2.31% .
BSE midcap and small cap indices rose 60 points and fell 47 points, respectively in trade today.
Among sectors, metal and banking shares led the losses today. While BSE bankex fell 391 points to 40,455, BSE metal index lost 202 points to 20,773.
BSE IT index was down 82 points to 33,569.
Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities said, “The market seems to have started tiring at the new highs of 16700. But, there is no indication of any reversal pattern unfolding at the higher levels. Any decline from here down to the support of 16,400 (20 day EMA on a daily chart) could be a buy on dips opportunity in the near term. We expect upside bounce from the lows in the coming sessions. The upside target for Nifty remains at 16,900 levels.”
Market cap of BSE listed firms stood at Rs 240.86 lakh crore.
Market breadth was negative with 1,097 shares closing higher against 2,083 ending lower on BSE.
115 shares were unchanged.
Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research, Sharekhan said, “Multiple support parameters like the 40-hour exponential moving average, hourly lower Bollinger Band and a rising trendline are present over there. Though the overall outlook continues to be positive, the index is expected to form a base near 16,500-16,450 before starting the next leg up.”
Meanwhile, rupee ended 11 paise higher to close at 74.24, tracking weaker American currency against key rivals overseas.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic currency opened strong at 74.30 per dollar. It hovered in a range of 74.24 to 74.31 during the session.
On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 74.35 against the dollar.
Global markets
European stock markets opened lower Wednesday while Asia advanced as investors awaited an update from the Federal Reserve on possible plans to reduce US stimulus.
In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London fell 0.3% to 7,160.40. Germany’s DAX lost 0.3% to 15,877.98 and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.4% to 6,791.63.
On Wall Street, the future for the S&P 500 was off less than 0.1% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.1% to 3,487.44 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.6% to 27,671.57. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was 0.5% higher at 26,025.14.
The Kospi in South Korea advanced 0.5% to 3,175.88 and Sydney’s S&P-500 fell 0.1% to 7,532.90.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.90 per cent to $69.65 per barrel.