Sensex ends down 72 points

Indian markets on Wednesday’s trading session saw a flat ending to an otherwise volatile day.

The BSE Sensex ended the day down 0.4 per cent or 72 points at 16,846. The NSE Nifty closed down 0.4 per cent or 18.60 points at 5,109.

The markets opened down by about 0.5 per cent and during mid-day trading session declined by more than one per cent only to recover towards the end of the trading session.

“Initial trade led the index down to a low of 5,076 as the sentiments remain subdued over the concerns on overall economic health of the global markets as well as weak monsoon in the country which has been reported worst in the last three years,” said Ms Nidhi Saraswat, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio.

Stocks of the metal, consumer durables and the power sector saw a decline of more than one per cent. On the BSE, the metal sector index declined about 2.03 per cent, consumer durables index by 1.7 per cent and the power sector index by 1.4 per cent. The only sector indices which saw a rise, albeit marginally, were the FMCG (up 0.4 per cent), IT (0.3 per cent) and health care (0.04 per cent) sectors.

“Amongst the stocks, HCL Tech was a clear winner. Its results beat the street estimates by far and the markets cheered it. As a result, the stock was up 6.7 per cent. This quarter's IT results are a mixed bag and raises questions over what would be the future of the sector as big IT boys showed dismal performance and HCL Tech beat street estimates,” said Mr Milan Bavishi, Head Research, Inventure Growth & Securities.

The top five gainers on the Sensex stocks are ITC (up 1.6 per cent), Sun Pharma (1.3 per cent), GAIL (0.4 per cent), Cipla (0.4 per cent) and TCS (0.3 per cent). The top five laggards were Jindal Steel (down 4.3 per cent), HUL (2.4 per cent), Tata Steel (2.4 per cent), Hindalco (2.3 per cent) and Bhart Airtel (down 2.3 per cent).

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