Sensex, Nifty end with minor losses; IT stocks drag

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Domestic equity benchmarks recovered from day’s low to end flat on Wednesday amid volatility. After hitting intra-day low of 57,924.48, the BSE Sensex closed 29.22 points or 0.05% lower at 58,250.26. The NSE Nifty ended at 17,353.50, down 8.60 points or 0.05%. The 50-share gauge dropped to an intra-day low of 17,254.20 during the session.

“In a volatile session of trade today the bulls managed to stage a smart comeback led by the pace of vaccinations and accumulation witnessed in Kotak Bank. The broader markets witnessed interest in textile stocks on the back of the PLI scheme announced today. The late afternoon session saw advances gain ground over declines as several midcaps were seen buzzing around,” said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

Gainers & losers

Sectoral strand

Sectoral indices ended mixed on the NSE. Nifty Bank advanced 0.82% while the Nifty Metal rose 0.22%. In contrast, Nifty IT slipped 0.78%, Nifty Auto lost 0.52% and Nifty Pharma fell 0.26%. Whereas Nifty FMCG and Nifty Realty indices were down 0.07% each.

Broader market

The broader market bucked the trend and outperformed benchmark indices. The BSE MidCap index settled at record highs of 24,567 advancing 198 points or 0.81% after hitting a new peak of 24,591 earlier in the day. The BSE SmallCap index rose 151 points or 0.55% to 27,501.

Bulls had an upper hand in today’s session as 1,812 shares advanced compared to 1,366 declined and 165 remained unchanged.

Economy

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday extended the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to textiles sector.

Under the scheme, incentives worth Rs 10,683 crore will be provided on production to the sector over a span for 5 years.

Global markets

European stocks fell across the board while most Asian were trading lower on Wednesday, 8 September 2021, reflecting cautious trade in global markets amid nervousness over economic growth and a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

Japan’s economy grew faster than the initially estimated in the April-June quarter. Revised gross domestic product (GDP) data by the Cabinet Office released on Wednesday showed the economy grew an annualised 1.9% in April-June, from an initial estimate of a 1.3% expansion.

In US, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 fell on Tuesday, on concern that the delta coronavirus variant is slowing the economic recovery from the pandemic.