SENSEX, NIFTY50 end in red; broader indices outperform, with Nifty Smallcap gaining 1.76%

Indian equity benchmark indices, despite a recovery from the lower levels, failed to claw back into positive terrain and ended Wednesday’s session in red. In the latter part of the trading session, Reliance Industries and NTPC facilitated a smart recovery of over 100 points from the day’s low in the NIFTY50 index. However, despite the support from these two stocks, bears maintained an upper hand owing to a sharp fall in the Nifty Bank index.NIFTY50 and SENSEX ended the session in negative territory.

Wednesday’s decline marked the fourth consecutive day of losses for the frontline indices NIFTY50 and SENSEX, the longest losing streak in over a month. Both benchmarks fell by 0.27% and 0.34%, respectively. The Nifty Bank index saw a significant decline, closing lower by 0.89% at the 51,317 level, a one-month low. The index was dragged by Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, and Kotak Bank.

The India VIX plummeted nearly 8%, marking a fresh five-week low. Meanwhile, the broader indices outperformed the benchmarks, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 index ending higher by 1.04% and 1.76%, respectively.

Top Gainers & Losers

Index Movers

Coming to the NIFTY50 index pullers and draggers, NTPC (+10.97 pts), Tata Motors (+9.83 pts), Reliance (+9.34 pts), HDFC Life (+6.69 pts), and Tech Mahindra (+6.69 pts) were the pullers of the day. Draggers included HDFC Bank (-17.13 pts), Axis Bank (-14.83 pts), Hindustan Unilever (-9.17 pts), SBI (-8.64 pts), and Kotak Bank (-8.44 pts).

Broader indices

Today, the broader market closed in positive territory. The Nifty Midcap 100 gained by +1.04%, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbed by +1.76%. Market breadth was strong on Wednesday as the advancing stocks outnumbered the declining stocks.

Sectoral Indices

The sectoral indices closed positively, while the banking indices faced selling pressure today. The top three gainers were NIFTY Media (+2.47%), NIFTY Oil & Gas (+1.69%), and NIFTY Consumer Durables (+1.08%). The top three losers were NIFTY Bank (-0.89%), NIFTY Private Bank (-0.76%), and NIFTY Financial Services (-0.60%).

Global Markets

Asian markets concluded Wednesday's trading session lower. The Hang Seng declined by 0.91%, the Shanghai index closed down by 0.46%, the Nikkei 225 Index plunged by 1.22%, and the Kospi index lost by 0.56%.

At 3:53 PM, the Dow Jones Futures were trading down by 155 points at 40,460.