The benchmark indices ended flat amid choppy trades after investors turned cautious and booked profits at higher levels. Losses in financials and oil and gas shares capped gains.
The 30-share Sensex ended up 11 points at 25,561 and the 50-share Nifty gained 16 points to end at 7,640 levels.
The broader markets outperformed the large counterparts. BSE Mid-cap index and Small-cap indices gained 1.3% each.
Asian Markets
Asian equities dipped on Thursday, giving up earlier modest gains as Chinese shares fell, while the euro probed recent lows against the dollar amid speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve was tilting towards tighter monetary policy.
Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended flat with a negative bias. In addition, China’s Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.5%. On the other hand, Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.7%.
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The rupee fell marginally by two paise to 60.14 against the dollar in early trade on Thursday on increased demand for the US currency from banks and importers.
Meanwhile, Meanwhile, Overseas investors bought Indian shares worth 6.21 billion rupees on Wednesday, provisional exchange data shows.
The revival of monsoon rains in the grain bowl of northwest and central regions should help speed up sowing of main summer crops such as rice, corn, soybean and cotton.
Sectors & Stocks
On sectoral front, BSE Metal was the top gaining index up by 2.4% followed by BSE Consumer Durables, Power, Capital goods and Healthcare indices. In addition, BSE Teck and IT indices ended flat with a positive bias.
In contrast, BSE Realty was the top losing index, followed by oil & gas and Auto indices lower between 0.2-0.7%. Bankex ended flat with a negative bias.
Metal pack witnessed heavy buying with Hindalco and Tata Steel up 3% followed by Coal India and Sesa Sterlite up between 1.6-3% on the back of positive Chinese GDP growth data.
Wipro and Infosys added 0.6% and 1% each . However, TCS lost 0.7% on caution ahead of the quarterly results due later during the
day.
Capital goods shares ended in green after RBI announced incentives to raise long term bonds for infrastructure financing. L&T and BHEL ended up between 0.4-1%.
The power shares witnessed a rebound on value buying. NTPC and Tata Power ended up between 2.6-4%. NTPC has been offered 34 projects of 55,000 MW capacity by the private companies for takeover, but the company is willing to consider only 4-5 projects out of the lot.
Among other notable gainers were Cipla, SBI,Tata Motors and HUL.
On the flip side, Bank shares which had firmed up post the RBI measures for infra-bonds and the realty sector witnessed profit taking at higher levels. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank ended down between 0.1-8%.
Oil prices rose after a bullish US stockpiles report raised hopes of resurgent demand in the world's top crude consumer.
The reports also suggested that several plants in United States are using more crude to increase gasoline production to keep up with the summer driving season.
Thus, ONGC, RIL and GAIL lost between 0.8-1%.
In the auto pack, Bajaj Auto lost 2.3% after weak first quarter earnings.
The two-wheeler major reported a flat growth in the first-quarter standalone net profit at Rs 740 crore, due to higher expenditure including employee cost.
Analysts on an average had expected profit of Rs 838 crore in April-June (Q1) quarter.
The country’s second largest two-wheeler maker had profit of Rs 738 crore in the same quarter last year.
Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) plunged 3.2% after a huge block deal executed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). In addition, Maruti Suzuki lost 0.8%.
Among other distinguished losers were Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Lab and Bharti Airtel.
In the Midcap and Smallcap space, Crompton Greaves surged 13.4% to Rs 210 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), after the company’s board proposed to demerge its consumer products business unit into a separate listed entity.
Ahluwalia Contracts surged 12% to Rs 127, extending its 10% rally in past two trading sessions on NSE, after securing construction orders worth of Rs 615 crore.
The market breadth ended positive on the BSE with 1,743 hares advancing and 1,192 shares declining.