The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms breached ₹300-lakh crore market during the closing hours on Wednesday, but settled at ₹299.90-lakh crore at close. Though the Sensex ended flat, the market breadth was positive as 1,916 shares advanced against 1,588 that declined, that helped market-cap climb by ₹1.32-lakh crore.
The BSE Sensex dipped 33.01 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 65,446.04. The BSE benchmark had jumped over 2,500 points in the past five sessions. The NSE Nifty eked out marginal gains of 9.50 points or 0.05 per cent to end at its fresh record high of 19,398.50 on Wednesday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹1,603.15 crore on Wednesday, according to exchanges’ provisional data.
Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said: “We expect the market to consolidate with a positive bias in the near term, before taking flight to record high levels.” All eyes will be on the FOMC meeting minutes, which will give some insights into the US FED’s future course of action, he added.
Among the Sensex stocks, Maruti, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, ICICI Bank, Power Grid and Nestle were the gainers, while HDFC Bank fell over 3 per cent and HDFC declined nearly 3 per cent.
The BSE Midcap and SmallCap gained 0.68 per cent 0.62 per cent respectively. Among the sectoral indices, FMCG, Auto Oil & Gas, Consumer Discretionary, Energy and BSE Services ended in the green, while BSE Financial Services, Telecommunication and Bankex were down.