Indices end flat; Nifty closes at record high
Finance, bank stocks slump on profit booking; IT and FMCG shares buck the trend
image for illustrative purpose
The BSE Sensex closed modestly lower, while the NSE Nifty inched up to a fresh closing high on Wednesday as bulls took a breather amid a subdued trend overseas. Banking and finance stocks succumbed to profit-booking after the sharp upmove in the past few sessions, while IT and FMCG counters bucked the trend. After touching its all-time high of 56,198.13 points in early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 14.77 points or 0.03 per cent lower at 55,944.21. The broader NSE Nifty, however, ended 10.05 points or 0.06 per cent higher at its new closing record of 16,634.65 points. It touched an all-time high of 16,712.45 during the day. TCS was the top gainer on the Sensex chart, rising 1.31 per cent, followed by Infosys, Reliance Industries, Nestle India, ITC and HUL.
On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Maruti, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Axis Bank and UltraTech Cement were among the laggards, skidding as much as 3.51 per cent. The market breadth was negative, with 22 of the 30 Sensex constituents ending in the red, while the remaining eight mustered gains.
"Market opened positively, but main indices closed on a flattish note due to muted performance by large caps. The broad market was more positive, as midcaps bounced after the correction mode during the month, which lifted the morale of investors. The global market traded positive on Covid vaccine approval and in anticipation of a dovish comment by the Fed chair in the upcoming meeting (Jackson Hole)," said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services. Binod Modi, head (strategy) at Reliance Securities, adds "domestic equities traded range-bound ahead of F&O expiry. However, small-cap stocks were in focus today with strong buying seen in a number of quality names. Additionally, investors continued to remain upbeat on IT stocks in the backdrop of sustained earnings visibility." Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,644.91 crore, as per exchange data.
Sector-wise, BSE oil and gas, power, energy, IT and industrials indices climbed up to 1.28 per cent, while consumer durables, telecom, realty, bankex, finance and healthcare closed lower. Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices outperformed the benchmarks, spurting up to 0.68 per cent.
