Sensex ends choppy day 25 pts lower; midcaps skid; M&M up 6%, HDFC down 2%

Stock market LIVE updates: India VIX ticked up 4 per cent in the intra-day trade, but ended 2 per cent higher

Stock market updates: Buying in select banking and automobile stocks helped markets pare steep losses, logged earlier today, and flat on Wednesday. Investors turned to profit-booking, after benchmarks scaled fresh lifetime highs in the morning deals, and dragged the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex lower by 731 points from record peak of 49,795 levels. The Nifty50 slipped 217 points from new peak of 14,653.

At close, the S&P BSE Sensex was at 49,492 levels, down 25 points or 0.05 per cent. Individually, M&M jumped nearly 6 per cent on the BSE today and re-entered the Rs 1-trillion m-cap club. At close, its market cap stood at Rs 1.02 trillion on the BSE.

That apart, SBI surged 4.5 per cent, ITC (2.4 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (2 per cent), to end the day as top gainers on the Sensex. Losses in Bajaj Finance (3 per cent), HDFC (2.6 per cent), Reliance Industries (1 per cent), and HDFC Bank (0.5 per cent) put pressure on markets.

On NSE, the Nifty held the 14,550-mark and closed at 14,565 level, up 1.4 points or 0.1 per cent.

Sectorally, Nifty Pharma ended 1 per cent lower. On the upside, Nifty PSU index surged 3.3 per cent and ended as an outperformer for second straight day.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap ended 0.6 per cent lower at 19,087.59 while the S&P BSE SmallCap index slipped 0.4 per cent at 18,850.66.

Global markets

Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, tracking modest Wall Street gains, as expectations that a vaccine will eventually win the battle against the coronavirus fuelled recovery hopes, while tight supply expectations pushed oil prices to a one-year high.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.61 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei 225 ended 1.04 per cent higher. South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.7 per cent, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 reversed losses and added 0.11 per cent at close. China's Shanghai Composite, however, ended 0.27 per cent down.

In Europe, stocks were little changed on Wednesday as a profit warning from Danish wind farm developer Orsted hit utilities, while French grocer Carrefour jumped following merger talks. the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose just 0.1 per cent, as utilities were a drag after Orsted slumped 7.5 per cent on warning a return to more normal wind speeds this year would hit operating earnings.

The German DAX remained muted as Health Minister Jens Spahn said the country will not be able to lift all restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus at the beginning of February.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:05 PM

TECH VIEW :: Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research, CapitalVia Global Research

Today, the market failed to show resilience to stay above the level of 14600 and we saw profit booking in the market. As of now, the short-term technical condition of the market shows that the expected range of the market is likely to be between 14380 and 14680. While it is subject to further price action evolution, our research suggests it is prudent to wait for a decisive breakout above 14680 and technical factors to improve before going long in the market. As such we retain our cautious stance and advise the traders to refrain from building a fresh buying position, until we see further improvement and breakout above 14680.

4:03 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities

A Volatile day indeed with Indices swinging both ways ahead of Earnings today from the two IT biggies. The highlight of the day was the spirited upmove put up by the State-Owned Banks in Afternoon Trade

4:03 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Sahaj Agrawal, Head of Research- Derivatives at Kotak Securities

Nifty has achieved a long range target of 14640 and is now expected to witness increased volatility going ahead. For Traders, 15100 can be expected on the higher side with momentum support seen at 14280. Aggressive buying is advisable below the 14000 mark. Banking and Energy stocks are expected to outperform in the near term

3:44 PM

BSE Midcap index skids 0.63%

3:41 PM

Sector Watch | Barring, financials, pharma and realty, all sectors close higher

3:38 PM

Private lenders, RIL, Asian Paints among top drags today

3:36 PM

Sensex Heatmap | Top gainers & losers at close

• 14 of 30 Sensex stocks end higher
• M&M biggest gainer, rallies over 6%
• SBI, ITC, NTPC among other top performers
• Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Bajaj Finserv top losers, down up to 3%

3:34 PM

CLOSING BELL: Nifty ekes out 1 point gain, ends at 14,564.85

3:33 PM

CLOSING BELL: Sensex ends volatile session 25 points down, snaps 3-day winning run

3:25 PM

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>> Revenue down 5.1% at Rs 647.2 cr Vs Rs 682 cr (YoY)
 

3:18 PM

Most active stocks on BSE in volume terms

3:08 PM

Sensex off day's low, trades flat

3:01 PM

Coal India increases capex by 30% for current fiscal year to Rs 13,000 crore

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2:54 PM

RBI may not cut rates despite drop in retail inflation: Motilal Oswal

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2:49 PM

India VIX spikes over 3.5% to 23.66

-- India VIX is a volatility indicator