The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Wednesday snapped their losing run and showed a firm trading session on the back of strong Q1 earnings by Larsen & Toubro and Tata Motors. The domestic indices, which were volatile in the early part of the trading, turned stable ahead of the US Fed's outcome later tonight. Apart from that, IT and banks stocks witnessed some buying.
The S&P BSE Sensex touched that a high at 66,897 and was up nearly 550 points at the high point of the day, pared gains and settled 351 points higher at 66,707. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 hit a high of 19,826 before closing with a gain of 98 points at 19,778.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, L&T that surged 3.5 per cent a day after reporting strong Q1 performance, and Rs 10,000 crore share buyback. ITC, Reliance, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank were among the other gainers. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, M&M, TechM, Asian Paints, Titan emerged losers.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index moved 0.3 per cent higher, and Smallcap index added 0.2 per cent.
Among the sectors, capital goods, FMCG, and realty gained 1 per cent each.
In the previous session on Tuesday, the S&P BSE Sensex closed the day with a marginal loss of 29 points at 66,356, while the NSE Nifty50 finally settled 8 points higher at 19,681.
A total of 1,906 stocks advanced while 1,630 declined and 160 remained unchanged.
Optimism inched back after three trading days of consolidation ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said. "As the market’s ambiguity against the monetary policy is likely to reverse henceforth, going forward we are unlikely to see another Fed rate hike in 2023. This is because inflation has rapidly come down and is forecast to settle down further," he said.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong ended lower. Equity markets in Europe were trading in the red. The US markets ended in positive territory on Tuesday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.72 per cent lower at $83 a barrel.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were buyers on Tuesday as they bought equities worth Rs 1,088.76 crore, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, the rupee fell 13 paise to settle at 82.01 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday due to an elevated crude prices in international markets and month-end dollar demand from importers.
Positive cues from the domestic equity market and inflow of foreign funds provided support to the rupee, even as investors traded cautiously ahead of US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 81.89 against the dollar and finally ended the day at 82.01 (provisional), registering a fall of 13 paise from its previous close. During the session, the local unit touched a peak of 81.87 and hit the lowest level of 82.03. On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 81.88 against the dollar.