Sensex and Nifty reverses gains on fag-end selling

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex reversed its gains and closed lower by 167 points on Wednesday due to profit-taking in select blue-chips in the last hour even as the RBI took the first step towards a rate cut in its monetary policy review.

Erasing its early gains, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 167.71 points or 0.21 per cent to close at 81,467.1. The index opened higher and later surged 684.4 points to hit an intraday high of 82,319.21 as RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das left the interest rate unchanged but changed the stance to neutral. However, sharp gains in blue-chips attracted profit taking by cautious investors ahead of the start of earnings season on Thursday.

The NSE Nifty dropped 31.20 points or 0.12 per cent to end at 24,981.95. In the intraday trade, it jumped 220.9 points or 0.88 per cent to hit a high of 25,234.05.

Among the 30 Sensex companies, ITC, Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro and HDFC Bank were among the major laggards.

On the contrary, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, Maruti Suzuki India, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv and Bharti Airtel were among the gainers. Despite late selling and profit-taking by investors, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms soared by Rs 2.63 lakh crore to Rs 4,62,14,144.39 crore (USD 5.50 trillion).

A total of 2,705 stocks advanced, while 1,248 declined and 96 remained unchanged on the BSE.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 5,729.60 crore on Tuesday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 7,000.68 crore, according to exchange data. In Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Seoul settled in negative territory while Tokyo quoted in the positive territory. European markets were trading higher in mid-session deals. US markets ended with gains in overnight deals on Tuesday.