MUMBAI — India's domestic benchmark indices closed flat on Wednesday amid
muted global cues, as selling was seen in auto, PSU Bank, financial service,
pharma, metal and realty sectors.
Sensex ended at 78,148.49, down by 50.62 points, or 0.06
per cent, and Nifty settled at 23,688.95, down by 18.95 points or 0.08 per
cent.
Marginal selling in market led by Bank Nifty. It ended at
49,835 down by 367.10 points, or 0.73 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index
closed at 56,270.60 after dropping 598.70 points, or 1.05 per cent, while the
Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed at 18,365.65 after declining 307.80 points, or
1.65 per cent.
On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 1,390 shares ended in
green and 2,582 shares in red, whereas there was no change in 94 shares.
On the sectoral front, IT and FMCG segments were major
gainers.
According to market experts, "slowing economic
growth projections and caution ahead of Q3 numbers added volatility in the
market,"
"However, the market witnessed a recovery from the
day’s low owing to accumulation of beaten-down blue-chip stocks and in
expectation of government reforms in the upcoming budget to lift the tepid
economy."
"The near-term sentiment is likely to be subdued due
to the rise in US bond yield and fear of fewer rate cuts by the Fed," they
added.
In the Sensex pack, UltraTech Cement, L&T, Sun
Pharma, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, NTPC, SBI, Zomato, Titan, Tata Steel and
M&M were the top losers. Whereas, TCS, ITC, Asian Paints, HCL Tech,
Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Hindustan Unilever,
PowerGrid, Nestle India and Tata Motors were the top gainers.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities
worth INR 1,491.46 crore on January 7 and domestic institutional investors
bought equities worth INR 1,615.28 crore on the same
