Indian shares ended about 0.5 per cent lower on Wednesday after being range-bound for most of the session, weighed down by weak European markets and caution ahead of derivatives contracts expiry on Thursday.

The Sensex ended down 119.45 points or 0.46 per cent at 25,960.03 while the NSE Nifty closed down 32.70 points or 0.41 per cent at 7,896.25.

Caution continued to weigh on sentiment with traders expected to churn positions as the January futures and options series begins on Friday.

Investors are now looking towards the second week of January for signs of a recovery in corporate balance sheets.

"Second week of Jan, since you have earnings season unfolding, you'll see some meaningful volumes happening as well," Gaurang Shah, vice president at Geojit BNP Paribas said.

Among frontline stocks, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, India's second-largest drugmaker by sales, gained over 0.5 per cent after the company relaunched its generic form of Nexium in the United States after changing the pill's colour.

Shares in Housing Development Finance Corp closed down 0.22 per cent. Standard Life received approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to increase its stake in HDFC Life Insurance to 35 per cent from 26 per cent.

United Spirits fell over 2 per cent after the company sought shareholders' nod to report sick to the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction.

Top Nifty losers/gainers

PNB (-2%), HCL Tech (-1.8%), BPCL (-1.5%), Infosys (-1.5%) and TCS (-1.3%) were the top Nifty losers.

Zee Enterprises (+2.9%), Tata Steel (+1.3%), IndusInd Bank (+1.1%), Tata Power (+1.1%) and Tech Mahindra (+0.97) were the big gainers on the Nifty 50.

FMCG, Metal, Realty and Media counters saw some buying.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net bought shares worth Rs 8.49 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW