Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended with losses in choppy trade ahead of inflation and industrial production data to be released later in the day. Unabated foreign fund outflows also hit the investor sentiment. Sensex fell 147.47 points or 0.25 per cent to end at 59,958.03. During the day, the 30-stock index declined 473.18 points or 0.78 per cent to 59,632.32. Nifty fell 37.50 points or 0.21 per cent to 17,858.20.
Top losers
Reliance Industries (2.11%), Axis Bank (1.54%), Tata Motors (1.40%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (1.26%), Bharti Airtel (1.12%), Bajaj Finserv (0.87%), Asian Paints (0.83%) and ICICI Bank (0.77%) were among the major Sensex losers.
Top gainers
UltraTech Cement (1.81%), Larsen & Toubro (1.66%), HCL Technologies (1.62%), Maruti (1.08%), Nestle India (0.74%) and HDFC (0.65%) were among the top Sensex gainers.
Market breadth was negative with 1618 shares closing higher against 1,888 stocks falling on BSE. 152 shares were unchanged.
Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities said, “Nifty remained volatile throughout the session with mostly a bearish bias as it closed below the crucial short-term moving average (50 EMA). The daily RSI is in bearish crossover on the daily timeframe, suggesting sluggish momentum. Over the short term, the trend is likely to remain sideways or negative. On the higher end, resistance is visible at 18000. On the lower end, support is visible at 17750.”
Top sectoral gainers were capital goods and IT shares with their BSE indices rising 272 pts and 110 points, respectively. Top sectoral losers were banking and oil and gas shares with their BSE indices falling 254 pts and 209 points, respectively. Market cap of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs 279.95 lakh crore.
Also Read: Tata Motors shares trading at key support level; time to buy, sell or hold?
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, “The domestic market continued to remain volatile as investors eagerly awaited the earnings of other IT majors after a cautious warning from TCS. FIIs continue to dump Indian equities in search of cheaper investment avenues. Uncertainties over upcoming inflation numbers at home and the US kept the domestic market unstable, even as western peers stayed optimistic.”
BSE mid cap and small cap indices slipped 60 points and 5 points, respectively. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 3,208.15 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Previous session
Indian benchmark indices closed on a flat note on Wednesday amid unabated foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in index heavyweight Reliance Industries. Falling for the second straight session, the Sensex dipped 9.98 points or 0.02 per cent to end at 60,105.50. During the day, the 30-stock index declined 309.7 points or 0.51 per cent to 59,805.78. Nifty skidded 18.45 points or 0.10 per cent to end at 17,895.70.
Global markets
Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green. Equity exchanges in Europe were trading higher in mid-session deals. Markets in the US ended in the positive territory on Wednesday.
International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.41 per cent to $83.01 per barrel.
Also Read: Infosys Q3 results: Profit rises 13.4% to Rs 6,586 crore; FY23 revenue guidance revised upward