SENSEX, NIFTY50 trade on a flat note; Reliance, Bajaj Finance gain, HDFC Bank, Infosys fall

The Indian equity benchmarks were trading on a flat note on Thursday, September 17, ahead of weekly expiry of SENSEX futures and option contracts.

The SENSEX traded in a band of 172 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 23,267.70 and a low of 23,193.65 as gains in Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics, Mahindra & Mahindra and Eternal were offset by losses in ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Airtel.

As of 9:26 am, the SENSEX was 20 points at 74,356 and NIFTY50 index advanced 30 points to 23,247.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note after US Fed hiked interest rates. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.45%, China's Shanghai Composite index declined 0.37%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1% and South Korea's KOSPI advanced 0.22%.

US stocks ended lower on Wednesday after US Federal Reserve's FOMC hiked its main interest rate for the first time in three years and suggested more may be ahead as it tries to get the nation’s high inflation under control.

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.21%, S&P 500 index fell 0.45% and tech heavy Nasdaq slipped 0.01%.

Back home, 11 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading higher led by the NIFTY Auto index's 0.6% gain. NIFTY PSU Bank, FMCG, Metal, Pharma, Realty, Healthcare, and Consumer Durables indices also rose between 0.2% and 0.6%.

On the other hand, NIFTY Media, IT, Bank and Private Bank indices were trading on a subdued note.

Broader markets were outperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index advanced 0.3% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index gained 0.45%.

Shriram Finance was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 2.55% to ₹1,004. Bajaj Finance, Eternal, HDFC Life, Bharat Electronics, Jio Financial Services, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra and Axis Bank also rose between 1% and 2%.

On the flip side, ONGC, HCL Tech, HDFC Bank, TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Coal India, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Auto and Titan were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,239 shares were advancing while 703 were declining on the NSE.