Sensex ends flat in choppy trade; Fed meet outcome in focus

The market benchmark Sensex on Wednesday witnessed a volatile trade and ended a little higher, tracking weak Asian cues ahead of US Federal Reserve policy decision.

The Nifty, however, ended lower as it fell by over 21 points owing to losses in Tata Steel, HUL and SBI stocks offset gains in Kotak Mahindra Bank, ITC, HDFC and Reliance Industries.

Corporate earnings and positive auto sales have boosted the investors’ mood but weakening rupee and surge in oil prices made them cautious.

In the morning trade, the 30-share Sensex gained over 197 points to hit a high of 35,357.15, buoyed by a slew of positive factors like record April GST collections, encouraging corporate earnings and strong auto sales data.

The market later lost momentum to slip to 35,072.42 on profit-booking in recent gainers. It finally ended at 35,176.42, up 16.06 points, or 0.05 per cent.

The gauge had gained 659.09 points in the previous three sessions on the back of widespread gains triggered by encouraging corporate results.

The broader NSE Nifty shuttled between 10,784.65 and 10,689.80, before ending 21.30 points or 0.20 per cent lower at 10,718.05.

 Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 261.98 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold net shares worth Rs 385.47 crore on Monday, provisional data showed.

Meanwhile, India's manufacturing sector improved marginally in April on surge in new business orders and favourable demand conditions amid easing inflationary pressures, a monthly survey showed today.

Among Sensex constituents, Kotak Bank remained in fine shape through the session on the back of encouraging earnings and emerged as the top gainer by rising 3.87 per cent to Rs 1,257.25, followed by ITC Ltd at 2.03 per cent at Rs 287.15.

Other index gainers include Asian Paints (1.80 per cent), HDFC Ltd (1.37 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.32 per cent), Axis Bank (1.04 per cent), RIL (1.03 per cent) and Dr Reddy's (0.10 per cent).

In the auto space, shares of Bajaj Auto rose 0.31 per cent after the company today reported a 26 per cent jump in total vehicle sales in April this year.

However, country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki's stock ended 0.79 per cent down at Rs 8,752.90 apiece despite strong sales data for April.

Hero MotoCorp too fell by 1.91 per cent as company's April sales data failed to cheer investors.

Tata Motors too shed 1.23 per cent, while M&M lost 1.34 per cent.

However, Tata Steel emerged the worst performer in the Sensex kitty by plunging 3.30 per cent, while ICICI Bank lost 2.58 per cent.

HUL fell 2.49 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma 2.39 per cent, SBI 2.29 per cent, Yes Bank 2.15 per cent, IndusInd Bank 1.70 per cent, Coal India 1.36 per cent, Power Grid  1.25 per cent, Wipro 1.17 per cent, TCS 0.95 per cent, NTPC 0.93 per cent, Adani Ports 0.85 per cent, ONGC 0.44 per cent, Bharti Airtel 0.38 per cent and Infosys 0.13 per cent.

Overseas, Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei falling 0.16 per cent, while China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.51 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.49 per cent.

European shares were higher in late morning deals as investors globally await Federal Reserve's meeting outcome due tonight. France's Paris CAC 30 rose 0.22 per cent and Germany's Frankfurt gained 1.28 per cent. London's FTSE was up 0.55 per cent.

Back home, the BSE mid-cap index was down by 1.17 per cent, while the small-cap index fell 1.15 per cent.

In the sectoral terms, BSE sectoral indices, led by metal down 3.40 per cent, realty 1.75 per cent, PSU 1.52 per cent, infrastructure 1.33 per cent, consumer durables 1.33 per cent, IT 1.17 per cent, auto 1.09 per cent, power 1.09 per cent, healthcare 0.97 per cent, teck 0.94 per cent, oil and gas 0.55 per cent, FMCG 0.15 per cent, capital goods 0.14 per cent and bankex 0.13 per cent.

Financial markets were shut yesterday on account of 'Maharashtra Day'.

(With inputs from PTI)