Stock Market: Sensex Settles 108 Points Higher, Nifty Holds 18,400. Adani Group Stocks Plunge

Stocks update: Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Dr Reddy's, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, and Tata Consultancy Services were among the major winners on the Sensex platform

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Wednesday ended the trade in the positive territory, with the BSE Sensex closing at its fresh life-time high of 61,980.72, helped by buying in banking counters. The domestic indices turned choppy as investors became cautious on reports of a missile strike on Poland by Russia.

After facing highs and lows during the day, the BSE Sensex finally ended 108 points (0.17 per cent) higher at 61,981. During the day, the index hit its 52-week high of 62,052.57, higher by 179 points. On the other hand, the broader NSE Nifty ended marginally higher by 6 points (0.03 per cent) to 18,410.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Dr Reddy's, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, and Tata Consultancy Services were among the major winners. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, UltraTech Cement, and IndusInd Bank were among the major losers.

The broader markets finished in red. The BSE Midcap index slipped 0.7 per cent, and the Smallcap index was down 0.3 per cent.

The market breadth too was fairly negative, with nearly 2,100 shares declining as against 1,440 stocks on the BSE.

Among stocks, Adani Group shares saw selling pressure in the latter half of the trading day. Adan Green cracked 4 per cent. Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Adani Power, Adani Total Gas, Adani Wilmar, and Ambuja Cements were down around 2 per cent each. ACC and Adani Transmission were down nearly a per cent each.

Sectorwise, the BSE Metal index fell 1.5 per cent. The Power and Realty indices were also down over a per cent each.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong settled lower, while Tokyo ended higher. Equity exchanges in Europe were trading mostly lower in the afternoon session. Wall Street had ended in the positive territory on Tuesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.28 per cent higher at $94.12 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 221.32 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated by 34 paise to close at 81.25 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday on disappointing trade data and foreign fund outflows.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 81.41 and later witnessed an intraday high of 81.23 and a low of 81.58 during the session. On Tuesday, the rupee appreciated 37 paise to close at 80.91 against the US dollar.