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Markets snapped a 3-day losing streak on Wednesday led by oil and gas shares with Reliance Industries leading the gains.
The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex rose 22.44 points to end at 19,568.28 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share ended up 4.4 points at 5,923.85.
Global risk appetite was frail amid fear that the Federal Reserve will reduce stimulus sooner-than-expected and after Japan’s Prime Minister failed to cheer investors through his growth strategy.
Asian shares ended lower with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declining 1% to 22,069, China’s Shanghai Composite declined 0.07% to 2,270, Singapore’s Straits Times fell 1.4% to 3,245 while Japan’s Nikkei slumped 4% to 13,042 today.
Meanwhile, the European indices traded lower. France’s CAC fell 0.37% to 3,911, Germany’s DAX declined 0.07% to 8,289 while UK’s FTSE shed 0.48% to 6,527 in today’s trades.
Back home, oil & gas, real-estate, healthcare, metal indexes gained while IT, consumer durables and technologies lead the declines on the BSE.
The gainers on the Sensex included Reliance Industries gaining 2.6%, Sun Pharma added 2%, GAIL was up 1%, ONGC rose 2% while Maruti Suzuki added 1.3% on the BSE.
Reliance Industries ended up 2.6% amid speculation the company may announce a potential tie-up with Reliance Communications Ltd in Thursday's AGM.
Shares in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd rose 2% after Swedish drugmaker Meda AB said it was not involved in discussions with a potential buyer, contradicting reports that the two companies were in talks.
Meanwhile, Larsen & Toubro gained 1% after country's biggest construction company won an infrastructure contract worth nearly $300 million from Saudi Aramco
The laggards were Wipro and Infosys falling over 1% each, ITC declined 1%, Coal India dropped 0.5% while Bajaj Auto fell 0.6% on the BSE.
The key notable movers in today's session were, HMT which soared 8% after board approved fundraising of Rs 443 crore via preference share issue to government.
Shares of TTK Prestige ended up nearly 2% at Rs 3,519 after the company late Tuesday announced that it has raised Rs 106 crore through issue of equity shares at a premium.
Shares of Just Dial, which made their stock market debut today, ended at Rs 612 after the company received huge reponse for its initial public offering.
Hanung Toys & Textiles surged 6% after the company said it will consider splitting equity share.
Shares of cement stocks ended lower as cement prices have eased and concerns over slowdown in demand following the onset of monsoon rains.
Among the cement majors ACC fell 1% at Rs 1,203, Ambuja Cements slipped 2% to Rs 171, UltraTech Cement ended down 0.5% to Rs 1,851.
The broader markets ended higher with mid-caps and small-caps gaining nearly 0.1% on the BSE.
The market breadth ended negative. Out of 2,488 stocks traded, 1,256 stocks declined compared to 1,083 advanced on the BSE.
