Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by he National Stock Exchange ended higher.
The Indian equity benchmarks logged in third straight session of gains led by gains in Infosys, Asian Paints, Tata Consultancy Services, Titan and Bajaj Finserv. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening wherein the Sensex rose as much as 309 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 15,294. However, due to selling pressure in banking and financial services shares, the benchmarks wiped out entire intraday gains to close on a flat note.
The Sensex ended 14 points lower at 50,637 and Nifty 50 index advanced 11 points to close at 15,208.
“We witnessed some lackluster movement in the market and an attempt to break the resistance level around the Nifty 50 index level of 15,300. Our research suggests, the short-term technical condition of the market appears like a sideways correction in the process. If Nifty sustains above 15,000 levels, we expect it to gain momentum, and hit 15,400,” Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research Limited.
Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by he National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Media index’s 3.2 per cent gain. Nifty IT, FMCG, Metal, Pharma and Realty indexes also rose between 0.4-1 per cent.
On the other hand, Nifty Bank, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Financial Services indices ended lower.
Mid- and small-cap shares witnessed a mild selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.2 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 0.1 per cent.
Among the individual shares, Amara Raja Batteries fell as much as 6.95 per cent to hit an intraday low of Rs 736.65 on the BSE. Media reports suggested that Clarios, the global energy storage solutions company, was selling 1.71 crore shares of Amara Raja Batteries for an aggregate of $174 million. The floor price was reportedly fixed at Rs 746 per share.
Titan was among the top Nifty gainers, the stock rose over 3 per cent to close at Rs 1,571 after gold surged to highest level in four months.
Asian Paints, JSW Steel, Eicher Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consumer Products, TCS, ONGC, Tata Steel, Infosys and Tech Mahindra also rose between 1-3 per cent.
On the flipside, HDFC Bank, HDFC Life, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Coal India, IndusInd Bank, HDFC, Adani Ports, ITC and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,786 shares ended higher while 1,342 closed lower on the BSE.