Sensex, Nifty end with marginal gains amid choppy trade and foreign fund outflows

Mumbai: Stock markets’ three-day rally fizzled out with benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ending on a flat note amid a choppy trade on Thursday as lacklusture sentiment across global equity markets fuelled the outflow of foreign capital.

After oscillating between gains and losses during the day, the 30-share BSE barometer Sensex ended with a slight gain of 12.16 points, or 0.01 per cent, at 84,478.67. During the session, it touched a high of 84,919.43 and a low of 84,253.05.

The broader NSE Nifty closed the session in green with just 3.35 points, or 0.01 per cent, higher at 25,879.15.

From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, PowerGrid, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Maruti Suzuki India, Axis Bank, UltraTech Cement and HCL Technologies were the

only gainers.

On the other hand, Eternal, Tata Motors’ commercial vehicles arm, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Trent, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, and Infosys were among the laggards.

The rupee consolidated in a narrow range and settled for the day lower by 8 paise at 88.70 against the US dollar on Thursday, as foreign fund outflows and continuous dollar demand from local importers, including oil companies, exerted pressure on the local currency.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, declined 0.29 per cent to $62.53 per barrel.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers for the third day in a row and offloaded equities worth Rs 1,750.03 crore on Wednesday.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sustained their buying spree and picked up of stocks worth Rs 5,127.12 crore, according to exchange data.

On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex rallied 595.19 points to settle at 84,466.51.

The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 180.85 points to close at 25,875.80.