NIFTY50, SENSEX close with marginal gains; IT stocks shine, Metals slip

Indian equity benchmark indices traded in a narrow range on Wednesday ahead of the crucial US inflation data release. The NIFTY50 index traded within the first-hour range and ended the session flat at 24,143, up by 4.75 points, while the SENSEX advanced 0.19% to 79,105. The NIFTY Bank underperformed on Wednesday, ending the day down by 104 points below the 49,750 level.

The NIFTY50 index witnessed a daily range of only 97 points (the daily range is the difference between high and low), which is the lowest since July 16. The lowest range recorded in NIFTY50 in almost one month clearly indicates that market participants preferred to stay light ahead of the holiday and crucial data from the US.

Top Gainers & Losers

Index Movers

Coming to the NIFTY50 index pullers and draggers, TCS (+22.02 pts), Infosys (+18.43 pts), Bharti Airtel (+8.2 pts), HDFC Bank (+7.84 pts) and HCL Tech (+7.48 pts) were the pullers of the day. Draggers included ICICI Bank (-11.38 pts), Coal India (-8.07 pts), UltraTech Cement (-6.91 pts), Divi’s Lab (-5.65 pts) and Reliance Industries (-5.47 pts).

Broader indices

Today, the broader market ended on a negative note. The Nifty Midcap 100 declined by -0.59%, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index lost -0.64%. Market breadth continued to be weak on Wednesday as the declining stocks outnumbered the advancing stocks.

Sectoral Indices

Most of the sectoral indices ended in red today barring the Nifty IT (+1.58%), Nifty Consumer Durables (+0.11%), and Nifty Auto (+0.05%). Among the top losers, Nifty Metal (-1.26%) declined the most followed by Nifty Media (-1.06%), and Nifty Healthcare (-0.88%).

Asian Markets

On Wednesday, Asian markets closed on a mixed note. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained +0.54% and the Kospi surged by +0.87%. The Hang Seng declined by -0.35%, and the Shanghai index closed down by -0.61%. As of 3:41 PM, The Dow Jones futures were trading flat by -2 points at 39,887.