The Sensex and the Nifty fell nearly 0.5 per cent at the closing session on Wednesday on heavy selling in metal, power and PSU sector stocks amid weak global cues.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended down by 130.44 points at 28,032.85 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty fell 43.6 points to close at 8,382.30.

Sectoral indices

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal index fell the most by 2.14 per cent, followed by power 1.8 per cent and PSU 1.51 per cent and India infrastructure index 1.44 per cent. On the other hand, IT index was down 0.21 per cent, followed by TECk 0.12 per cent and healthcare 0.07 per cent.

Gainers, losers

Dr Reddy's, HUL, HDFC, Bajaj Auto and Bharti Airtel were the top five Sensex gainers, while the major losers were Tata Steel, SSLT, GAIL, Tata Motors and BHEL.

The benchmark BSE Sensex climbed to a new record-high of 28,294.01 in the opening trade today as investors indulged in enlarging positions amid continued overseas capital inflows and positive economic data.

The 30-share index, which had shed 14.59 points in yesterday’s trade, bounced back by 130.72 points or 0.46 per cent to trade at a fresh record-high of 28,294.01 points, breaching the previous peak of 28,282.85 touched in yesterday’s trade.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty spurted by 29.75 points or 0.35 per cent to scale a new peak of 8,455.65, surpassing its earlier record-high of 8,454.50, touched yesterday.

Brokers said the trading sentiment remained upbeat in early trade on sustained buying by foreign funds and retail investors, supported by economic reforms undertaken by the government, easing inflation and falling global crude oil prices.

European stocks

European shares inched lower in early trade on Wednesday, with mining shares dragged by a sharp fall in iron ore prices and nuclear group Areva sinking after it dropped its financial targets.

Shares in France's Areva tumbled 19 per cent after it suspended its 2015 and 2016 financial targets, blaming delays to a Finnish nuclear project, the slow restart of Japan's reactors and a lacklustre nuclear market.

At 0807 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.3 per cent at 1,356.86 points.

Asian shares

Japanese shares gave up early gains on Wednesday as investors booked profits after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delayed a tax hike and said he would call a snap election to seek a fresh mandate for his economic policies.

Asian shares slipped to a three-week low as resource shares were hit by fall in oil and other commodity prices and as Chinese shares lost momentum as investors continued to take profits after Monday's launch of the landmark Hong Kong-Shanghai trading link.

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