Market ends flat after choppy trade; pharma, IT stocks crack
The 30-share index, after a gap-up opening at 35,330.14 points, hit a high of 35,351.88 points.
Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices gave up early gains to end a shade lower at 35,141.99 after a highly volatile session on Wednesday as losses in pharma and information technology shares offset gains in energy, banking and metal stocks, amid weak global cues.
The BSE Sensex swung nearly 365 points both sides on heavy buying and selling during the session. The 30-share index, after a gap-up opening at 35,330.14 points, hit a high of 35,351.88 points at the outset on the back of sliding global crude oil prices and recovery in rupee.
However, a weak trend in most other Asian markets and a lower opening of European markets, triggered selling on the domestic bourses, dragging the Sensex into negative terrain to hit a low of 34,986.86.
The index finally settled 2.50 points, or 0.01 per cent down at 35,141.99. It had rallied 332 points on Tuesday. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty, after shuttling between 10,651.60 and 10.532.70 points on alternate bouts of buying and selling, closed 6.20 points, or 0.06 per cent, down at 10,576.30.
Pharma and information technology shares tumbled due to stronger rupee which rose 50 paise to 72.17 against the US dollar (intra-session) in late afternoon trade.
It scaled a high of 71.99 at the outset. Top losers include Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, TCS, M&M, Infosys, Tata Motors and Yes Bank falling up to 7.36 per cent. While, Maruti, ONGC, Asian Paints, SBI, IndusInd Bank, HUL and ICICI Bank gained up to 2.85 per cent. Investors began booking profits at higher levels as indices rallied after Brent crude plunged nearly 7 per cent to USD 65 a barrel.
Rise in inflation based on wholesale prices to a four-month high of 5.28 per cent in October, mainly due to spike in petrol and diesel prices, too influenced investor sentiment here, brokers said.
On a net basis, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 335.78 crore Monday, while foreign institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 494.95 crore, as per provisional data.