Stock Market Turns Choppy; Sensex Declines 116 Points, Nifty Holds 16,550 Amid Volatility

Stock update: On the BSE, Tata Steel was the lead performer, up 2.20 per cent, followed by Asian Paints, NTPC, ITC, Kotak Bank, SBI, Maruti, and others

New Delhi: Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Wednesday pared initial gains and turned flat due to selling pressure in IT and auto stocks amid volatility. The domestic indices turned choppy tracking mixed trends in Asian markets.

At 10 am, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 116 points to 55,449, while the broader NSE Nifty was trading at 16,562, down 22 points.

On the BSE, Tata Steel was the lead performer, up 2.20 per cent, followed by Asian Paints, NTPC, ITC, Kotak Bank, SBI, Maruti, and others. On the flip side, TechM was the prime loser, down 1.34 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma, Wipro, Infosys, Dr Reddy’s, UltraCemco, and others.

In the broader markets, two indices outperformed the main indices. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose up to 0.77 per cent.

Sectorwise, Nifty FMCG, consumer durables and realty indices led gains, rising 1 per cent each. Nifty Auto and PSBs were other notable gainers. While financials and oil and gas indices were flat.

However, the overall market breadth was strong as 1,863 shares were advancing, while 601 were declining on the BSE.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the Sensex went lower by 359 points (0.64 per cent) to settle at 55,566, while the Nifty sank 76 points (0.46 per cent) to end at 16,584.

In Asian markets, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower, while Tokyo quoted with gains. Stock markets in the US had ended lower on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.96 per cent to $122.84 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 1,003.56 crore on Tuesday, as per stock exchange data.

"A clear trend is unlikely to emerge in the market in the near-term. At lower levels DIIs and retail investors will buy, pushing the market up; at higher levels FPIs will sell, pushing the market down. The dominant factor determining the market trend, globally, will be inflation and how far central banks, particularly the Fed, will go in hiking rates to contain inflation," V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services told the PTI.