Mumbai: After a largely volatile session, the key Indian equity indices ended Wednesday’s trade on a flat-to-positive note due to broadly weak global cues.
Market analysts pointed out that largely weak Asian equities, along with a rise in geo-political tensions after the US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal as well as higher crude oil prices capped gains and unleashed volatility.
However, the key indices were somewhat supported by healthy buying in the consumer durables, IT and capital goods stocks.
Index-wise, the broader Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,741.70 points — up 23.90 points or 0.22 per cent — from its previous close.
Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) ended the day’s trade higher from Tuesday’s closing level. It opened at 35,198.08 points and closed at 35,319.35, up 103.03 points or 0.29 per cent.
The Sensex touched a high of 35,404.83 points and a low of 35,134.20 during the intra-day trade.
The BSE market breadth was, however, bearish with 1,527 declines and 1,157 advances.
“It has been an indecisive day as mixed global trends and sparse domestic signals kept investor activity muted. Stock markets in India opened the day lower but subsequently firmed up to finally close the day with marginal gains,” said Abhijeet Dey, Senior Fund Manager, Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
He said: “Overseas, Asian shares saw a mixed trend while European shares traded higher, supported by strength in oil stocks after Trump pulled the US out of Iran’s nuclear agreement, boosting crude prices.”
According to Deepak Jasani, Head, Retail Research, HDFC Securities: “Markets inched up higher on Wednesday to end with gains for the third consecutive session. Selling pressure in the afternoon session curbed the gains to some extent.
“Major Asian markets have closed on a mixed note. European indices like FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX traded in the green.”
On the currency front, the Indian rupee weakened by 19 paise to 67.27 against the US dollar from its previous close at 67.08.
Provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 704.03 crore while the domestic institutional investors purchased stocks worth Rs 664.92 crore.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE consumer durables index rose by 104.17 points, the IT stocks edged up by 97.28 points and the capital goods stocks was higher by 76.82 points.
On the other hand, the S&P BSE healthcare index fell by 64.45 points, the automobile stocks dropped by 56.26 points and the FMCG stocks ended 29.02 points lower.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors (DVR), up 3.82 per cent at Rs 196.85; Tata Motors, up 2.79 per cent at Rs 341.35; Asian Paints, up 1.53 per cent at Rs 1,224.10; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 1.39 per cent at Rs 3,489.05; and Axis Bank, up 1.36 per cent at Rs 548.60 per share.
The top losers were Sun Pharma, down 1.02 per cent at Rs 506.30; ICICI Bank, down 0.70 per cent at Rs 307.10; Maruti Suzuki, down 0.70 per cent at Rs 8,713.60; Wipro, down 0.66 per cent at Rs 270.50; and Mahindra and Mahindra, down 0.64 per cent at Rs 860.05 per share.
IANS