Stock Market Today: Sensex Rises 450 Points; Nifty Over 21,350 Amid Volatility. Axis Bank Slides 2%

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, IndusInd Bank, SBI, PowerGrid, HCL, HUL, Tata Steel emerged gainers. Axis Bank, Asian Paints, TCS, M&M, Maruti, M&M, Bajaj Finance were among the losers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Wednesday are reading in the green amid volatility. At 10.15 am, the BSE Sensex rose 454 points to 70,824, on the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 21,380, up 142 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, IndusInd Bank, SBI, PowerGrid, HCL, HUL, Tata Steel emerged gainers. On the down side, Axis Bank, Asian Paints, TCS, M&M, Maruti, M&M, Bajaj Finance were among the losers. Among specific stocks, Axis Bank shares were down over 2 per cent after the private lender on Tuesday reported a net profit of Rs 6,071 crore in the December quarter of FY24, up 4 per cent YoY.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap was up 0.1 per cent, while the Smallcap advanced 0.2 per cent.

Sectorwise, realty index dropped 0.4 per cent, while buying is seen in the capital goods, metal, pharma, FMCG, oil & gas.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the S&P BSE Sensex plunged 1,053 points to close at 70,371, while the NSE Nifty50 settled below the 21,250-mark to end at 21,239, down 333 points.

V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, “The valuations in the broader market had become excessive and unsustainable as pointed out many times recently. The trigger for the correction came mainly from the sustained selling by FIIs who have sold equity worth Rs 27,830 crore during the last five days."

In the US markets, the Dow closed 0.25 per cent lower, while the S&P 500 settled 0.29 per cent higher and tech-heavy Nasdaq closed Tuesday's session 0.43 per cent higher. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 was trading with a loss of 1.00 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.84 per cent. China's Shanghai Composite was down by 0.14 per cent. European markets closed largely lower on Tuesday with Germany's DAX and CAC 40 of France losing 0.34 per cent each. London's FTSE 100 also fell 0.03 per cent.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading lower by 0.18 per cent to $79.41 per barrel on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Tuesday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,115.39 crore, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee opened on a flat note and appreciated 1 paisa to 83.14 against the US dollar in the morning session on Wednesday, amid a muted trend in domestic equities. Forex traders said the rupee is trading with a slight negative bias amid selling pressure from foreign investors.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.15 against the dollar, then rose to 83.14, registering a rise of 1 paisa over its previous close. In the initial trade, the rupee touched an early low of 83.16 against the US dollar. On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 83.15 against the US dollar.