Despite weak cues, key indices inch up

Mumbai Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty edged higher on Wednesday after a volatile trade amid weak cues from Asian and European markets along with unabated foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex advanced by 33.21 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 64,975.61 points. During the day, it hit a high of 65,124 and a low of 64,851.06. The broader Nifty went up by 36.80 points or 0.19 per cent to close at 19,443.50 with 29 of its components closing in green and the rest 21 in red.

“Markets remained range-bound and ended marginally in the green. After the flat start, Nifty oscillated in a narrow range till the end and finally settled at 19,443.50 levels,” said Ajit Mishra, SV-P (technical research), Religare Broking Ltd. “The domestic market traded rangebound with a positive bias. And further confidence may be derived from the global market cues post the FED chair speech. Oil prices continued to fall, which will provide respite to the domestic economy and navigate a downward trajectory to inflation & fiscal,” said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs497.21 crore, according to exchange data.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.78 per cent and smallcap index gained 0.60 per cent. Among the indices, realty jumped 1.40 per cent, services climbed 1.07 per cent, oil & gas (0.96 per cent), capital goods (0.86 per cent), consumer discretionary (0.84 per cent), auto (0.80 per cent) and energy (0.77 per cent). Financial Services, IT, bankex and teck were the laggards.

Among the Sensex firms, Asian Paints, Titan, Larsen & Toubro, JSW Steel, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti and Reliance Industries were the major gainers.