Weak global cues halt Sensex rally; Nifty hits record high

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices ended flat on Wednesday with Sensex sliding 33 points and Nifty gaining 9 points after an unabated record-breaking rally in the last few trading sessions. Weak global market trends and fall in HDFC twins also spoiled markets party.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dipped 33.01 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 65,446.04. The benchmark remained in the negative territory for most part of the trade and fell 222.56 points or 0.33 per cent to 65,256.49 in intra-day. The NSE Nifty eked out marginal gains of 9.50 points or 0.05 per cent to end at its fresh record high of 19,398.50. During the day, it hit a high of 19,421.60 and a low of 19,339.60. “Markets remained range bound and ended almost unchanged. After the flat start, the Nifty oscillated in a narrow band and finally settled around the day’s high at 19,398.50 levels. Meanwhile, a mixed trend across sectors kept the participants busy wherein FMCG and auto majors were in the limelight. Besides, a modest up move in the mid-cap and small-cap space added to the trading opportunities,” said Ajit Mishra, SV-P (technical research), Religare Broking Ltd. From the Sensex pack, HDFC Bank fell over 3 per cent and HDFC declined nearly 3 per cent. Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, NTPC, Bajaj Finance and UltraTech Cement were among the other laggards. However, Maruti, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, ICICI Bank, Power Grid and Nestle were among the gainers.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.68 per cent and smallcap index advanced 0.62 per cent. Among the indices, FMCG jumped 1.71 per cent, auto rallied 1.62 per cent, oil & gas (1.04 per cent), consumer discretionary (0.86 per cent), energy (0.75 per cent) and services (0.68 per cent).

“The market’s last-minute broad based recovery serves as a reaffirmation of investors’ confidence in the Indian economy,”said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs1,603.15 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.