The Sensex and Nifty gained for a second straight session on Thursday on short-covering in stocks such as Bharat Heavy Electricals, even as the overall sentiment stayed cautious due to uncertainties surrounding the ability of global central banks to stimulate growth.
Perceived limits to the extensive monetary easings led by major central banks such as the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan have soured broader risk sentiment.
The broader NSE index ended 15.95 points or 0.18 per cent higher at 8,742.55 after declining as much as 0.25 per cent earlier in the session, while the benchmark BSE index closed 40.66 points or 0.14 per cent up at 28,412.89 after shedding up to 0.22 per cent earlier in the day.
Bharat Heavy Electricals rose 2.7 per cent, while ITC Ltd ended up 1.6 per cent, after having lost about 7 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively in the last three trading sessions.
Among BSE sectoral indices, FMCG index gained the most by 0.66 per cent, healthcare 0.52 per cent, realty 0.14 per cent and TECk 0.08 per cent. On the other hand, consumer durables index was down 0.97 per cent, power 0.94 per cent, PSU 0.69 per cent and banking 0.58 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Reliance (+1.63%), Maruti (+1.47%), Cipla (+1.35%), ITC (+1.23%) and HDFC (+1.19%), while the major losers were Power Grid (-2.4%), Axis Bank (-2.25%), Hero MotoCorp (-1.86%), Tata Steel (-1.83%) and Bajaj Auto (-1.78%).
Global markets
European shares hovered near one-month lows on Thursday, as concerns over a weak economic backdrop and recent heavy selling in the bond market pegged back equities.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index, which had fallen for the last five days in a row, was flat and remained near one-month lows. The STOXX 600 index is also down 7 per cent so far in 2016.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged down 0.1 per cent with Japan's Nikkei falling more than 1 per cent to a three-week low.
Sentiment back home was also frail as investors took a breather after indexes hit 18-month high last week, helped by overseas inflows.
Foreign investors have been buying into Indian shares as part of a shift to higher-yielding emerging markets, bringing the total net investments to $6.31 billion so far this year.
“What we are seeing now is some amount of consolidation and a slightly range-bound market which should continue through the next trading session, on the back of uncertainties surrounding major central banks' moves,” said Gaurang Shah, vice president, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
Analysts at HSBC said they believe that the overall integration may be “tricky” as the companies would need to decide on issues related to branding.
“The primary focus of the merged entity is likely to be debt reduction and this may raise concerns on their ability to retain subscribers,” the analysts said.
Among the gainers, state-run trading firm MMTC Ltd rose as much as 7.5 per cent to its highest since July 14, after its June-quarter loss narrowed.
A report by SMC Global said: "Asian stocks fell for a sixth day, the longest losing streak since May, as the outlook for global central bank stimulus grew uncertain. US stocks closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with energy weighing, as oil prices fell sharply despite bullish inventories data. Import prices in the US saw a modest decrease in the month of August, the Labor Department revealed in a report released on Wednesday. The report also showed a notable decline in export prices during the month. The report said import prices dipped by 0.2 per cent in August after inching up by 0.1 per cent in July. Economists had expected import prices to edge down by 0.1 per cent. With the decrease in August, import prices moved lower for the first time since a 0.5 per cent decline in February.''