Market Wrap, Feb 11: Indices end flat, SENSEX falls 40 pts, NIFTY50 rises to 25,953 as auto stocks rally; Eicher Motors top gainer

The Indian stock market closed on a mixed note on Wednesday, February 11, following a rangebound session amid gains in auto, PSU bank, and pharma stocks. Sustained foreign fund inflows and positive cues from broader Asian markets supported investor sentiment.

Auto stocks rallied on Wednesday following positive December quarter earnings. Shares of Eicher Motors posted their best single-day gain in over five years, a day after it reported December quarter earnings.  

According to exchange data, on Tuesday, both the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹69.45 crore and ₹1,174.21 crore on a net basis, respectively.

Globally, Asian stock markets ended modestly on Wednesday as investors assessed soft Chinese inflation figures.

South Korea's KOSPI surged 0.99%, and the Shanghai Composite ended with 0.09% gains, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 0.21%.

US stocks largely ended on a weak note on Tuesday on the back of weak December retail sales data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.1%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.33%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.59%.

Here are the key developments of Wednesday's session that you need to know

As many as 3,248 stocks traded on the NSE on Wednesday. Out of this, 1,485 advanced and 1,683 stocks declined, while 80 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of declines.

A total of 79 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 43 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 86 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 45 touched their lower circuit bands on Wednesday.

The market capitalisation of NSE-listed firms stood at ₹473.38 lakh crore at the close of the session.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 11.55 levels, falling 1%.

The broader market ended flat, with the Nifty Midcap 100 rising 0.03% to close at 60,754.55, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 climbed 0.02% to end at the 17,455 level.

Except for Nifty IT (-1.76%) and Nifty Private Bank (-0.16%), all the sectoral gauges ended the session in green.

Nifty Auto took the lead among gainers, surging 1.3%, while Nifty PSU Bank (1.03%), Nifty Pharma (1.01%), Nifty Realty (0.63%), and Consumer Durables (0.52%) were the other gainers.

On the NIFTY50 index, 23 stocks closed higher, 26 declined and one remained unchanged by the end of the session.

Eicher Motors was the most contributing stock, soaring 6.45%, followed by Apollo Hospitals (3.98%), Max Healthcare (3.33%), State Bank of India (3.23%) and Maruti Suzuki (1.89%).

On the flip side, Tata Consultancy Services (-2.53%), Infosys (-1.79%), Coal India (-1.67%), HCL Technologies (-1.53%) and Tech Mahindra (-1.19%) were the biggest losing stocks on the 50-share index.