Stock Market: Sensex Rises Marginally By 54 Points, Nifty Holds 17,600 Amid High Volatility; NDTV UP 5%

Stock update: IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Power Grid, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Asian Paints were the biggest gainers on the BSE

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices advanced 0.7 per cent each.

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Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Wednesday settled in the green with modest gains after oscillating between gains and losses throughout the session amid weak global cues.

The BSE Sensex closed marginally higher at 59,085, up 54 points. During the day, it hit a high of 59,170 and a low of 58,760. On the other hand, the broader NSE Nifty went up by 27 points to 17,604.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Power Grid, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Asian Paints were the biggest gainers. On the flip side, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Titan, Sun Pharma, and State Bank of India were among the major laggards.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices advanced 0.7 per cent each.

Among sectors, the Nifty Media index climbed 1.7 per cent, the Nifty Realty added 1.8 per cent, and the Nifty Private Bank index gained 1.6 per cent. On the downside, the Nifty IT and Pharma slipped 0.3 per cent each.

On specific stocks, retail investors stand to gain the most in the short-to-medium term from Gautam Adani group’s takeover bid for Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy-controlled NDTV, analysts said. The stocks of the media company rose 5 per cent at Rs 384.50 apiece.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the BSE benchmark climbed 257 points (0.44 per cent) to settle at 59,031, while the Nifty advanced 86 points (0.50 per cent) to 17,577.

In Asia, markets in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled lower, while Seoul ended in the green.

Stock markets in Europe were trading lower during mid-session deals. Wall Street had ended lower on Tuesday.

“Bulls and bears continued to battle it out in the domestic market as weak global cues persisted, keeping the market under pressure. The US economy contracted amid muted demand conditions with the service sector witnessing a sharp decline. Markets in Europe experienced a protracted sell-off as a result of investor's concern over the oil crisis and the uncertain growth outlook,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.

The international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.04 per cent to $101.3 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 563 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee consolidated in a narrow range and depreciated 2 paise to close at 79.81 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic currency opened at 79.84 per dollar. It hovered in a range of 79.68 to 79.87 during the session.