Market continues to consolidate; Sensex, Nifty end flat

NEW DELHI: Domestic market continued to consolidate on Wednesday ahead of corporate earnings scheduled for later this month and ahead of the Union Budget 2018. BSE Sensex ended 19 points lower at 33,793.38 and Nifty50 closed at 10,443.20, ending flat for the third session in a row.

Losses in major auto stocks such as Bajaj Auto (down 1.61 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (down 1.35 per cent), Motherson Sumi (down 1.29 per cent), Tata Motors (down 1.29 per cent) and TVS Motors (down 0.46 per cent) dragged the BSE Auto index down by 147 points to 26,418.50.

Pharma stocks also took a beating after shares of Dr Reddy's Laboratories fell 2.97 per cent at Rs 2,336.20 amid reports that an establishment inspection report (EIR) has been issued to the company's Duvvada facility, citing some issues.


Other top pharma losers were NecLife, Poly Medicure, Bliss GVS, Morepen Laboratories, Apollo Hospitals, shedding over 1 per cent each.

Consolidation continued, as the equity benchmark indices ended Wednesday's session on a flat note. Consolidation could continue for a few more sessions and volatility is expected to remain high ahead of the Q3FY18 earnings season (likely to begin in the next week). Markets participants would continue to closely monitor the macro events (like inflation & IIP growth) and global developments. With indices near record high, we advise traders to keep their positions hedged

-Jayant Manglik, President, Religare Broking

Broader markets outperformed with BSE Midcap index adding 94 points or 0.53 per cent to end at 17,819.32. The top midcap gainers of the day were JSPL, Adani Enterprises, OFSS, UBL, Tata Chemicals and Wockhardt Pharma.

Smallcaps such as Ambika Cotton Mills, Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals, Vikas EcoTech and Phillips Carbon Black caused the BSE Smallcap index to gain as many as 187 points or 0.98 per cent at 19,345.46.

On the NSE, Nifty Metal (up 1.45 per cent) was the top sectoral gainer thanks to gains in shares of JSPL (up 8.55 per cent), APL Apollo (up 6.43 per cent), WelCorp (up 4.97 per cent), Hindustan Copper (up 2.71 per cent), SAIL (UP 2.23 per cent) and JSW Steel (up 1.76 per cent).

While Realty, FMCG, Metal and Media ended in green along with Nifty Pvt Bank index, other sectoral indices ended on a negative note.

Shares of UCO Bank advanced 0.82 per cent in after the board of directors of the state-run lender approved a proposal regarding issuing of equity shares to government on a preferential basis.

Globally, bitcoin prices advanced over 10 per cent in two trading sessions after The Wall Street Journal reported Peter Thiel's Founders Fund has amassed hundreds of millions of dollars of the volatile cryptocurrency.

The blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.61 per cent, up for a fourth straight session, aided by strong gains in consumer and transport firms, Reuters reported.

In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.3 per cent, while euro zone blue chips gained 0.2 per cent.