CHENNAI: Indian equity benchmarks ended Wednesday’s session in the red, following a choppy day of trade marked by profit booking and cautious investor sentiment ahead of key macroeconomic data releases later this week.
The BSE Sensex slipped 239.31 points or 0.29% to close at 81,312.32, after oscillating between 81,613.36 and 81,244.02 during the day. Similarly, the NSE Nifty50 shed 73.75 points or 0.30%, ending at 24,752.45, with an intraday range of 24,864.25 to 24,737.05.
Index Performance:
Sensex: 81,312.32 (−0.29%)
Nifty50: 24,752.45 (−0.30%)
Nifty Midcap100: (−0.02%)
Nifty Smallcap100: (+0.33%)
Sectoral Overview:
Market sentiment was weighed down by weakness across most sectoral indices. The Nifty FMCG index led the decline, plunging 1.49% amid heavy selling in heavyweight ITC, which dropped 1.17% after British American Tobacco (BAT) offloaded a 2.5% stake, relinquishing its veto rights in the company.
Other laggards included Nifty Auto (−0.61%), Nifty Metal (−0.68%) Nifty Pharma (−0.35%), Nifty Consumer Durables (−0.46%), Nifty Healthcare: (−0.33%).
But, defying the trend, select sectors, including Nifty Media (+1.04%), Nifty PSU Bank (+0.97%), closed higher.
Top Nifty50 gainers on Wednesday were HDFC Life (+1.51%), Bharat Electronics (+1.24%), Bajaj Finance (+0.91%), Hero MotoCorp (+0.77%), and Bharti Airtel (+0.63%).
While top Nifty50 losers included IndusInd Bank (−1.93%), Apollo Hospitals (−1.82%), UltraTech Cement (−1.74%), Hindalco (−1.67%), and Nestle India (−1.62%).
Market Breadth & Volatility:
Market breadth on the NSE stayed slightly positive, with 1,462 stocks advancing, 1,395 declining, and 83 remaining unchanged out of 2,940 traded stocks.
The India VIX, a gauge for near-term market volatility, fell 2.79% to close at 18.02, suggesting a degree of calm among investors despite the ongoing electoral season and upcoming GDP data.
Outlook:
Investors appear to be in a wait-and-watch mode amid political and economic uncertainty. While broader markets show signs of resilience, persistent pressure in heavyweight FMCG and metal counters capped gains. Analysts expect volatility to persist ahead of Q4 GDP data and monthly F&O expiry on Thursday.