NIFTY50 and SENSEX break the winning streak to close lower by 0.3%, NIFTY PSU bank and IT among top sectoral losers

The Indian benchmark indices opened with a gap-down and spent most of the trading session within the first hour’s range. However, a surge in buying during the last leg of the day propelled the indices closer to their intraday highs. Despite this late recovery, the NIFTY50 index still closed down by 0.32%, settling below the 25,200 mark. This halted its longest winning streak since its inception. Meanwhile, the SENSEX continued its downward trajectory for the second consecutive session, declining by 202.80 points to close at 82,352.64. The Nifty Bank experienced a significant fall of over half a percent, finishing the day near the 51,400 level.

On Wednesday, Nifty Pharma emerged among the top gainers in the sectoral indices. The surge in the sector was mainly due to reports emerging that the US Biosecure Act is likely to be introduced in the U.S. Senate next week. If approved, this can help rerate valuations for Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) companies. On the other hand, Nifty PSU bank emerged as the top loser, recording its sharpest single-day fall in the last one month.

Top Gainers & Losers

Index Movers

Coming to the NIFTY50 index pullers and draggers, Reliance Industries (+10.45 pts), Hindustan Unilever (+9.59 pts), Asian Paints (+8.03 pts), HDFC Bank (+6.28 pts) and Sun Pharma (+5.23 pts) were the pullers of the day. Draggers included ICICI Bank (-20.47 pts), Infosys (-16.74 pts), L&T (-9.53 pts), Axis Bank (-8.08 pts), and Coal India (-7.51 pts).

Broader indices

Today, the broader markets ended the day marginally lower. The Nifty Midcap 100 declined by -0.13%, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed slightly lower by -0.02%. Market breadth was weak on Wednesday as the declining stocks outnumbered the advancing stocks marginally.

Sectoral Indices

On Wednesday, most of the sectoral indices closed the day on a negative note. The top three gainers were Nifty Healthcare (+0.82%), Nifty Pharma (+0.74%), and Nifty Realty (+0.65%). The top three losers were Nifty PSU Bank (-1.69%), Nifty IT (-0.94%) and Nifty Metal (-0.75%).

Asian Markets

The Asian indices closed on a negative note. Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged -4.42%, the Kospi slipped by -3.25%, Shanghai declined -0.67% and the Hang Seng index fell by -1.10%.

As of 3:37 PM, The Dow Jones futures were trading lower by -79 points at 40,939.