The 30-share Sensex lost 12 points to end at 29,559 and the 50-share Nifty climbed 4 points to close at 8,914.
Markets came off their record highs and the benchmark Sensex ended its eight day winning streak, amid a volatile trading session, as investors booked profits ahead of the expiry of January derivative contracts tomorrow and caution ahead of US Federal Reserve's annoucement later today.
The 30-share Sensex lost 12 points to end at 29,559 after hitting a record high of 29,786 and the 50-share Nifty climbed 4 points to close at a record closing 8,914 for the sixth straight session after hitting a fresh record high of 8,985 .
Among broader markets, BSE Midcap index ended up 0.3% whereas the Smallcap index underperformed the large counterparts and dropped 0.5%. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 954 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Local Currency:
The rupee was trading lower at 61.39 to the US dollar compared to previous close of 61.41 on fresh dollar selling by exporters amid strong equity market.
Across the Globe:
The Fed's first two-day policy meeting of the year concludes on Wednesday.
The U.S. central bank is likely to signal it remains on track to begin raising interest rates later this year.
Asian stocks showed some resilience on Wednesday as investors speculated whether the Federal Reserve could take a dovish turn in its post-meeting statement later in the session, amid signs a stronger dollar was hurting U.S. corporate profits.
Apple Inc also provided some relief after the bell as record iPhone sales helped it beat expectations, sending its stock up more than 5%.
Yahoo Inc gained more than 6% in after-hours trading on its plans to spin off its 15% stake in China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, responding to pressure to hand its prized e-commerce investment over to shareholders.
In Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up 0.2% to hit a four-month high while the Nikkei also gained 0.2% to one-month high.
Key Stocks:
On the sectoral front, BSE Consumer Durables index emerged as the top gainer leading up over 4% followed by Realty, Oil & Gas and IT indices up between 1-2%.
However, BSE Capital Goods index was the top loser down over 1.5% followed by Metal and Auto indices down between 0.7-1%.
BSE Bankex lost 0.4%. Telecom major Bharti Airtel declined over 4.6%. Bharti Airtel has commissioned Nokia Networks to expand its 4G presence to six new circles.
The deal marks India’s first FDD-LTE deployment on 1800 MHz that will witness the launch of super-fast mobile broadband in 6 circles.
Tata Motors lost nearly 3% on concerns of equity dilution after the company said it would seek shareholder approval to raise up to Rs 7,500 crore via rights issue of equity shares and DVR shares adding that the funds will be used for expansion and reduction of debt.
Capital goods shares like L&T and BHEL witnessed profit taking after gains in the previous session.
L&T and BHEL were down between 1-2%. Tata Steel lost nearly 2%.
The company believes the raw material issues, which forced it to import iron ore for the first time last year, have been resolved. Among other stocks from the metal pack, Sesa Sterlite and Hindalco ended under pressure and lost between 1.5-3%.
Banking shares mainly private sector such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank which touched their respective record high on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) during intra-day deal yesterday ended lower today on account of profit taking and were down between 0.5-1.3%.
On the flip side, shares in India's largest mortgage-lender HDFC gained around 2% since housing demand in India is likely to get a boost from falling interest rates and lower inflation.
State Bank of India (SBI) surged 1.4% after the country’s largest state-owned lender said that its committee of directors on capital has permitted it to raise up to Rs 15,000 crore in a share sale to support loan growth and meet capital adequacy requirements.
Shares of Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) climbed 1.2% extending its previous day’s 2% gain on NSE, after broking firms reiterate “BUY” recommendation on the stock with a target price by up to Rs 4,300 per share.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp's share sale is scheduled for this fiscal though falling crude prices pose a challenge, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.
The stock gained 1.3%. Crude oil gained as the dollar weakened and OPEC warned that prices may surge without new investment in production. Reliance gained over 2% while GAIL ended flat with a positive bias. Shares of consumer goods companies have firmed up as low inflation levels has increased the buying power of consumers thereby resulting in higher spends.
The Tata Group firm's net profit for the December quarter rose 15% to Rs 191 crore compared to the same quarter last fiscal driven by healthy revenue growth and margin expansion in the jewellery business. Revenue from jewellery business grew 11% to Rs 2,347 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 2,111 crore of the same period last fiscal.
The stock was up over 8% at Rs 433 while PC Jewellers was up 3%. VIP Industries was up nearly 8% ahead of its third quarter earnings tomorrow on the back of heavy volumes.
Over 300,000 shares were traded on the BSE against a two-week daily average volume of around 80,000 shares. The IT stocks rebound in today’s trade on the back of a depreciating rupee.
Infosys, Wipro and TCS are up between 0.3-1.5%. The market breadth ended weak on the BSE with 1,734 declines and 1,124 advances.
