Sensex Slips 91 Points, Nifty Holds 17,200 Amid Volatility

Sun Pharma was the major gainer among the Sensex 30 stocks, and was up 2.5 per cent, while ITC, State Bank of India, Coal India, Tech Mahindra were among the top losers

 New Delhi: Sensex and Nifty, key domestic equity benchmarks, settled lower on Wednesday amid volatile trading on the back of subdued global cues before ending on a flat note.

The BSE had touched a low of 57,721 in opening deals, but soon recouped losses and touched a high of 58,097. The index thereafter moved in a thin 200-point range for the rest of the day. The Sensex ended 90 points lower to 57,806 and the Nifty 50 settled just above the 17,213, down by 19 points.

Gains in pharmaceutical majors such as Cipla, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories kept markets afloat for most part of Wednesday’s session.  

Sun Pharma was the major gainer among the Sensex 30 stocks, and was up 2.5 per cent, after the company announced its plans to set-up an end-to-end manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh. On the flipside, ITC, State Bank of India (SBI), Coal India, Tech Mahindra were among the top losers.

Among sectoral indices other than the healthcare index, the auto index was the notable gainer, up 0.4 per cent. On the negative front, BSE Bankex was the top loser, down 0.8 per cent.

In the previous session, the 30-share equity benchmark surged 477.24 points or 0.83 per cent to end at 57,897.48, and Nifty rose by 147.20 points or 0.86 per cent to 17,233.45.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers in the capital market, as they purchased shares worth Rs 207.31 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.

There are two divergent trends in the governments’ and market’s response to the Omicron variant, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“The governments, globally, are responding with caution and imposing some restrictions. In India too Maharashtra and Delhi have imposed some restrictions in the context of rising cases. But the markets have responded to the Omicron variant assuming that this marks the last phase of the pandemic,” he said.

He added, “A strong positive for the market is that FIIs have turned buyers. This augurs well for financials, particularly leading banking stocks whose valuations are attractive now. Rising crude is a macro headwind.”

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo were trading with losses in mid-session deals.

Stock exchanges in the US largely ended with losses in the overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.06 per cent to $78.72 per barrel.