The benchmark Nifty surrendered all its early gains and closed below the key 6,700 mark in a highly volatile session at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today amid selling and caution ahead of US Fed meet outcome.
Financial, infra, healthcare and technology stocks remained under intense selling, while mid and small-cap stocks were battered due to rich valuations.
FMCG and auto scrips, however, managed to withstand the sell-off along with some others related to earnings news.
The 50-share index fluctuated sharply between a high of 6,780.15 and a low of 6,656.80 before settling at 6,696.40, a fall of 19 points, or 0.28 per cent, over its last close.
After a quiet start, the bellwether index surged on across-the-board buying supported by hectic short-covering to hit the day's highest level.
However, the bullish momentum was short-lived as the market tanked in mid-afternoon, erasing all gains. Some tail- end low-level buying helped the Nifty to cut losses though it ended at multi-week lows.
Meanwhile, most Asian bourses ended higher ahead of US Fed meet outcome and Bank of Japan's monetary decision.
DLF, Tata Power, BHEL, Sesa Sterlite, Bharti Airtel, L&T, Ambuja Cement, IDFC, UltraTech and Bajaj Auto were the key index laggards.
Notable gainers included HeroMoto, ONGC, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's, HDFC, HUL, HDFC Bank, Jindal Steel and M&M.
Turnover in the cash segment shot up to Rs 16,535.48 crore from Rs 13,950.41 crore yesterday. A total of 10,505.39 lakh shares changed hands in 77,54,615 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 73,46,737 crore.
