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The Sensex and Nifty closed slightly higher on Wednesday, led by drug maker Aurobindo Pharma Ltd after stellar quarterly results, but the sentiment remained edgy as investors awaited further clues on whether the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year.
The benchmark BSE index closed 69.73 points or 0.25 per cent higher at 28,059.94, while the broader NSE index ended up 17.7 points or 0.21 per cent at 8,650.30.
Aurobindo Pharma jumped 7 per cent after the company had on Tuesday reported a 24 per cent rise in its June-quarter consolidated profit, boosted by higher sales.
Yellen's speech
Investors' attention now is on Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech at the annual central bank symposium in Jackson Hole on Friday. They still doubt the stars will align for a hike anytime soon, so a hawkish tone from Yellen would challenge that view.
Reflecting the caution, Asian stocks consolidated recent gains on Wednesday, while oil prices slid after a surprise buildup in US crude stocks.
Sentiment was also muted ahead of the expiry of the derivative contracts on Thursday.
Sectoral indices
Barring metal and capital goods, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the positive zone. Among them, oil & gas index gained the most by 1.49 per cent, healthcare 1.3 per cent, infrastructure 0.9 per cent and PSU 0.71 per cent. On the other hand, metal index was down 0.22 per cent and capital goods 0.01 per cent.
Gainers, losers
Top five Sensex gainers were Maruti (+2.4%), Cipla (+1.97%), Infosys (+1.76%), NTPC (+1.54%) and Sun Pharma (+1.07%), while the major losers were Lupin (-2.16%), Tata Steel (-1.38%), TCS (-1.2%), Tata Motors (-1.1%) and Adani Ports (-0.81%).
“If there is some indication that the US economy is in good shape and recovery is on track, then there could be some impact on Indian stocks but the market isn't expecting any immediate hike in U.S. interest rates because of global economic uncertainty,” said U.R. Bhat, managing director of Dalton Capital, a unit of U.K. investment management firm Dalton Strategic Partnership.
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