Sensex Comes Off High, on Backfoot After Profit-booking

Mumbai: After its biggest single-day gain in nearly five months in the previous session, markets on Wednesday caved in meekly as the Sensex closed the day lower after investors booked profit and global conditions stayed mixed.

Much of the profit-booking happened in FMCG, realty and financial stocks after yesterday's biggest single-day rebound in close to five months. Power, PSU, oil and gas, healthcare, consumer durables and IT, however, found some takers, which cushioned the fall.

The 30-share index resumed higher and ended at 27,984.37, down by 66.51 points, or 0.24 per cent.

It had posted a rally of about 521 points, its biggest single-session gain in nearly five months, on Tuesday. The 50-share Nifty went down 18.80 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 8,659.10.

"Profit booking dragged the market due to global volatility ahead of tomorrow's ECB meet. Expectations of a positive outcome from the GST Council did insulate us from the adverse effect of global volatility," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The broader markets outperformed the Sensex, with the small cap index rising 0.55 per cent and the mid-cap 0.06 per cent, as investors continued to widen their portfolios.

Earlier on, sentiment remained positive on sustained foreign inflows amid positive overseas cues amid reports that China's economy expanded more than expected in the third quarter. But it turned somewhat weak after profit-booking resurfaced at higher levels, dragging down key indices.

A total of 14 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended lower. ITC plunged the most by falling 2.44 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank (2 per cent).

Others that pulled the market lower include Hero MotoCorp (1.28 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (1 per cent), SBI (0.82 per cent) and Asian Paints (0.65 per cent).

Wipro, Lupin, Adani Ports, GAIL, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, ONGC, NTPC and Dr Reddy's held up as they ended higher by up to 2.74 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, the FMCG index topped the losers chart by plunging 1.09 per cent. Realty too lost 0.91 per cent, auto 0.54 per cent, banking 0.52 per cent and capital goods 0.05 per cent.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 345.04 crore yesterday, showed provisional data. Globally, Asia ended mixed, and a lower opening in Europe had a bearing on trading sentiment here. In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.38 per cent while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.21 per cent and Shanghai Composite 0.03 per cent.

Key indices in France, Germany and the UK were lower by up to 0.28 per cent.

The loss in index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC came amid reports that the GST Council is considering having multiple tax slabs along with a 'sin' cess on demerit goods such as tobacco and luxury products.

The market breadth remained positive as 1,636 stocks ended in the green, 1,168 closed in the red while 213 went steady.

The total turnover on BSE came in at Rs 3,956.73 crore, higher than Rs 3,703.61 crore registered in the previous trading session.