Stock Market Turns Flat: Sensex Dips 122 Points; Nifty Trades Below 18,000-Mark Amid Volatility

Sock update: Maruti, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major gainers on the Sensex platform

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, which rebounded in early trade on Thursday after falling the previous day amid a largely positive trend in global markets, erased gains and slipped into the red amid volatility.

In the early morning trade, the BSE Sensex climbed 329 points to 60,676, while the NSE Nifty advanced 92 points to 18,096. At 10.30 am, the Sensex declined 122 points to 60,224, while the Nifty was trading at 17,962, down 42 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Maruti, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major gainers. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, and Tata Steel were among the laggards.

Among individual stocks, shares of State Bank of India hit fresh 52-week high of Rs 578 after the state-run bank raised benchmark prime lending rate by 0.7 per cent.

In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 surged up to 0.9 per cent.

Sectorally, barring Nifty Media, all sectors started trade on a positive note with marginal gains. Nifty Bank index hit all-time high of 41,829.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE benchmark had settled at 60,346, a loss of 224 points (0.37 per cent). The NSE Nifty closed lower by 66 points (0.37 per cent) at 18,003.

After Wednesday's retreat, local shares started on a positive note tracking recovery in most of the Asian indices following overnight uptick in the US markets, said Prashanth Tapse - research analyst, senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd. Intraday, markets may waver as the nervous theme could play out in the backdrop of consensus that inflation is falling more slowly-than-expected, he added.

Asian markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul were quoting in the green, while Shanghai traded lower. The US markets had ended on a positive note on Wednesday.

The international oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.09 per cent to $94.02 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded Rs 1,397.51 crore from the domestic equities on Wednesday.

The rupee witnessed a range-bound trading in early trade on Thursday as a firm American currency and concerns about hawkish US Fed offset the support from positive domestic equities. On Wednesday, the rupee declined by 35 paise to close at 79.52 against the US currency.