Photo: The Hindu Business line
Chennai, India (BBN) - The benchmark BSE Sensex wiped off its initial losses and was trading up by over 120 points on heavy buying in oil & gas, consumer durables, TECk and PSU stocks. However, metal and realty stocks succumbed to selling pressure.
At 11.40 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 109.03 points or 0.33 per cent at 33,337.02, while the NSE index Nifty was up 40.9 points or 0.4 per cent at 10,281.05, reports The Hindu Business Line.
Among BSE sectoral indices, oil & gas index gained the most by 1.44 per cent, followed by consumer durables 1.16 per cent, TECk 0.63 per cent and PSU 0.62 per cent. On the other hand, realty index was down 0.21 per cent and metal 0.18 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Kotak Bank (+1.6%), ONGC (+1.12%), TCS (+1.11%), HDFC Bank (+1.05%), Bharti Airtel (+0.95%), while the major losers were Adani Ports (-0.65%), ICICI Bank (-0.49%), PowerGrid (-0.42%), Maruti (-0.07%) and ITC (-0.06%).
EARLY TRADE
The 30-share gauge declined 104.55 points or 0.31 per cent to 33,123.44 and the NSE Nifty slipped 29.60 points or 0.28 per cent to 10,210.55 as investors tightened their exposure due to weak macroeconomic data. Rising oil prices and a weak trend in Asian markets too dampened the domestic sentiment in early trade.
Data released on Tuesday showed that factory output slowed to a three-month low of 2.2 per cent in October, with negligible growth in mining and subdued expansion in manufacturing and electricity.
Also, retail inflation breached the central bank’s limit and shot up to a 15-month high of 4.88 per cent in November, against 3.58 per cent a month earlier, led by rising food prices. Consumer food price index inflation jumped up to 4.42 per cent in November, against 1.9 per cent in October.
Asian shares were treading water in early trade on Wednesday as crude oil futures steadied after a selloff, while a widely expected interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve underpinned the dollar.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia–Pacific shares outside Japan was a few ticks higher in early trade.
Japan’s Nikkei stock index edged down slightly, shrugging off data that showed Japanese core machinery orders rose a more-than-expected 5 per cent in October in a sign of resilient capital spending.
On Wall Street on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both notched record closing highs, though the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.19 per cent.
BBN/MMI/ANS