Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices gave up early gains to end marginally lower at 35,141.99 after a highly volatile session Wednesday as losses in pharma and information technology shares offset gains in energy, banking and metal stocks, amid weak global cues.
The BSE Sensex swung nearly 365 points both sides on heavy buying and selling during the session.
The 30-share index, after a gap-up opening at 35,330.14 points, hit a high of 35,351.88 points at the outset on the back of sliding global crude oil prices and recovery in rupee.
However, a weak trend in most other Asian markets and a lower opening of European markets, triggered selling on the domestic bourses, dragging the Sensex into negative terrain to hit a low of 34,986.86.
The index finally settled 2.50 points, or 0.01 per cent down at 35,141.99. It had rallied 332 points on Tuesday.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty, after shuttling between 10,651.60 and 10.532.70 points on alternate bouts of buying and selling, closed 6.20 points, or 0.06 per cent, down at 10,576.30.
According to analyst, market was volatile despite fall in oil prices and appreciation in rupee as concerns about domestic liquidity and weak global cues overrode the sentiment.
"Oil prices fell to $65/barrel and will ease concerns on current account deficit. IT and pharma indices witnessed selling pressure due to stronger rupee while stock-specific buying on the basis of quarterly results and decline in oil prices supported out-performance of midcaps," they added
The rupee strengthened 50 paise to 72.17 against the US dollar (intra-session) in late afternoon trade. It scaled a high of 71.99 at the outset.
Sun Pharma emerged worst performer in the Sensex kitty, plunging 7.36 per cent, after the company Tuesday reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 218.82 crore for the July-September quarter on account of a Rs 1,214-crore provision for the settlement of the Modafinil antitrust case in the US.
Stocks of software exporters such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro lost up to 2.85 per cent due to stronger rupee which rose 50 paise to 72.17 against the US dollar in late afternoon trade. It scaled a high of 71.99 at the outset.
Shares of Tata Motors fell 1.67 per cent after Moody's Investors Service Wednesday changed Tata Motors' rating outlook to negative from stable, citing expectations of weak operating performance of the company's British arm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
Other laggards were Kotak Bank, M&M, Yes Bank, Axis Bank, Adani Ports, Vedanta, Hero MotoCorp, L&T, RIL and ITC, falling up to 3.04 per cent.
Among gainers, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC, Asian Paint, SBI, IndusInd Bank, HUL, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, PowerGrid, HDFC, Bajaj Auto and NTPC, rose up to 2.85 per cent.
Shares of oil marketing companies and aviation operators rose on falling crude oil prices.
State-run HPCL, BPCL and IOC gained up to 4.75 per cent.
In the aviation sector, shares of Interglobe Avialtion and Jet Airways gained up to 7.67 per cent.
Sectorally, the BSE IT index emerged as the top loser by falling 2.24 per cent, followed by teck index that shed 1.86 per cent, healthcare 1.65 per cent, realty 1.52 per cent, metal 0.81 per cent, auto 0.66 per cent and and capital goods 0.46 per cent.
On the other hand, oil and gas index was the best performer surging 1.18 per cent, PSU index gained 1.07 per cent, FMCG 0.94 per cent, bankex 0.52 per cent, power 0.39 per cent and infrastructure 0.39 per cent.
Investors turned cautious on news that inflation based on wholesale prices hit a a four-month high of 5.28 per cent in October, mainly due to spike in petrol and diesel prices, too influenced investor sentiment here, brokers said.
The broader markets depicted a mixed trend with mid-cap index rising 0.09 per cent, while small-cap index fell 0.15 per cent.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.16 per cent, Taiwan Index gained 0.16 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.85 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng too fell 0.83 per cent.
Meanwhile in Europe, Paris CAC 40 fell 1.27 per cent, while Frankfurt's DAX shed 0.92 per cent in early trade. London's FTSE too declined 0.81 per cent.
