Among gainers were Hero MotoCorp, HUL, Infosys, Bajaj Finance and Tata Motors, rising up to 1 per cent. Market turned volatile ahead of corporate earnings scheduled to begin next week, traders said, adding that heavy selling by foreign as well as domestic investors also weighed on local equities.
On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 621.06 crore Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 226.18 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed. Globally, investor sentiment also turned choppy after the White House meeting between US President Donald Trump and top Congressional leaders on resolving the ongoing partial government shutdown ended in a stalemate Wednesday.
The Republicans and Democrats stuck to their respective positions over the presidential demand for a US-Mexico border wall. Trump is seeking USD 5.2 billion in funding for the wall which according to him is a must to prevent flow of illegal immigrants into the US. On Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed all early gains after Apple cut its holiday-quarter revenue forecast, and ended a tad higher at 23,346.24 points.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.36 per cent, Kospi fell 0.25 per cent and Shanghai Composite Index was trading flat in early trade. Japanese market remained closed on Wednesday. The rupee weakened further and opened lower at 70.30 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the benchmark Brent crude futures were trading lower by 1.09 per cent at USD 54.31 per barrel.