Nifty, Sensex End Flat As Traders Track Voting Trends: Market Wrap
The Nifty settled flat at 22,302.5 and Sensex declined 45.46 points, or 0.06%, to end at 73,466.39.
In yet another range-bound trade, India's benchmark stock indices ended flat as voting trends in the ongoing general election made traders cautious.
The NSE Nifty 50 settled flat at 22,302.5 and the S&P BSE Sensex declined 45.46 points, or 0.06%, to end at 73,466.39.
The Nifty hit an intraday low of 22,185.2, and the Sensex touched 73,073.9 levels earlier in the session. The volatility gauge, India VIX, ended 0.46% higher during the session.
"A lower percentage of the voter base turning up for the polls has led to a spike in India VIX," according to Aditya Agarwala, co-founder and director at Invest4Edu Pvt.
The Indian market echoed subdued investor sentiments akin to those of its Asian peers and worries about declining voter turnout, according to Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services Ltd. "Despite domestic Q4 earnings largely meeting estimates, the earnings landscape appears to be moderating."
The Indian rupee closed flat against the US dollar at Rs 83.5. The yield on the 10-year bond was trading higher at 7.14%.
Most stocks in Asia ended lower on Wednesday as investors sought firm evidence of an earnings recovery before taking this month’s rally further, Bloomberg reported. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by 0.90%, while S&P ASX closed higher by 0.14%.
Brent crude was trading 1.38% lower at $82.01 a barrel. Gold was lower by 0.16% at $2,310.36 an ounce.
Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd., State Bank of India, and NTPC Ltd. were positively contributing to changes in the Nifty.
HDFC Bank Ltd., Infosys Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Hindustan Unilever Ltd., and Asian Paints Ltd. negatively contributed to the change.
Nine sectors on the NSE ended higher, with the Nifty Oil and Gas and Nifty Auto advancing the most. Nifty Bank and Nifty Finance fell the most by 0.55% and 0.53%, respectively.
Broader markets outperformed the Frontline Index as mid- and small caps soared over 0.50% each, Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Share Brokers Pvt. Ltd., said. "Nothing has changed technically for the index; that is, the bullish gap zone of 22,160–22,200 will be considered support, while 22,400 is an immediate hurdle."
The S&P BSE Midcap ended 1.52% higher and the S&P BSE Smallcap closed up 0.78%.
Six out of 20 sectoral indices on the BSE ended lower, while 14 advanced. S&P BSE Capital Goods was the top gainer.
The market breadth was skewed in favour of buyers. Around 2,133 stocks rose, 1,661 fell, and 132 remained unchanged on the BSE.
