Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Wednesday bounced back on fag-end buying and extended their sixth straight lead amid high volatility due to weak global cues.
The 30 share BSE Sensex gained 214 points to end at 58,350, while the broader NSE Nifty 50 was up 42 points at 17,388.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, TechM was the lead gainer, up 1.97 per cent. The other gainers were TCS, Infosys, Titan, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Airtel, Reliance, HDFC, HCL, Wipro, PowerGrid, HDFC Bank, and others. On the flip side, Maruti was prime loser, down 2.29 per cent. Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, ITC, HUL, and others were the losers.
In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices slipped 0.6 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.
Among specific stocks, shares of SpiceJet moved higher by 18 per cent to Rs 52.40 on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade on report that the promoter Ajay Singh is exploring possibility of a partial stake sale in the airline.
During the previous session on Tuesday, the BSE benchmark had ended 20.86 points (0.04 per cent) higher at 58,136.36, while the Nifty ended at 17,345, up 5.40 points (0.03 per cent).
In Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong ended higher, while Shanghai settled lower. European stocks were trading in the green during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended lower on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the rupee slumped 68 paise to close at 79.21 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, as disappointing macroeconomic data weighed on investor sentiment.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened lower at 78.70 and fell further to settle at the day’s low of 79.21. On Tuesday, the rupee rallied 53 paise, its best single-day gain in over 11 months, to close at an over one-month high of 78.53 against the US dollar.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.95 per cent to $ 99.58 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital markets as they bought shares worth Rs 825.18 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.