Frontline indices the Sensex and the Nifty closed lower on profit booking in shares of select heavyweights, including Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank, ahead of the annual central bank summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday. Markets anticipated clues on interest rate trajectory from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Officials of the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan are meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for their yearly conference on central banking.
Meanwhile, global cues were largely positive. Following sharp gains in the US markets, key European markets were up with mild gains when the Sensex closed. S&P 500 and Nasdaq jumped over a per cent higher on Wednesday on strong gains in shares of Nvidia after its second-quarter revenue and third-quarter revenue guidance significantly beat expectations.
Stock market today
The domestic market witnessed some profit booking in the second half of the trade which dragged the key indices lower.
Sensex opened 289 points higher at 65,722.51 against the previous close of 65,433.30 and rose 480 points to hit the intraday high of 65,913.77. However, it erased all gains in the second half and ended 181 points, or 0.28 per cent, lower at 65,252.34. The Nifty50 closed the day at 19,386.70, down 57 points, or 0.29 per cent.
Mid and smallcaps, however, outperformed the benchmark index. The BSE Midcap index rose 0.11 per cent while the Smallcap index clocked a gain of 0.21 per cent.
As many as 264 stocks, including Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Federal Bank, Mphasis, Shriram Finance and Tata Power, hit their fresh 52-week highs in intraday trade on BSE.
Top Nifty gainers and losers today
As many as 35 stocks suffered losses in the Nifty index while 16 stocks ended with gains.
Shares of Reliance Industries (down 1.84 per cent), Divi’s Labs (down 1.52 per cent) and Power Grid (down 1.32 per cent) ended as the top losers in the Nifty index.
On the other hand, shares of BPCL (up 1.93 per cent), Asian Paints (up 1.78 per cent) and IndusInd Bank (up 1.26 per cent) ended as the top gainers in the Nifty index.
Sectoral indices today
Most sectoral indices ended in the red today. Nifty Healthcare Index (down 0.78 per cent), PSU Bank (down 0.65 per cent), Pharma (down 0.58 per cent), and Oil & Gas (down 0.56 per cent) ended as the top losers among the sectoral indices.
Nifty IT, on the other hand, rose 0.61 per cent. IT stocks gained after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on six Indian IT services companies and expects the sector to see growth amid tailwinds from Generative AI and pent-up demand.
The global brokerage has ascribed a ‘buy’ rating on Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and LTIMindtree. It has a ‘Sell’ rating on Wipro and Tech Mahindra, and a ‘Neutral’ rating on HCL Technologies.