Indian equity benchmarks traded marginally lower in afternoon trading on Wednesday, recovering from early morning losses, as gains in auto and consumer goods stocks helped offset declines in pharmaceutical and banking sectors.
The BSE Sensex traded at 80,240.88, down 128.15 points or 0.16 per cent from its previous close, while the NSE Nifty declined 28.60 points or 0.12 per cent to 24,438.25 at 12:30 PM. Market breadth remained positive, with 2,891 stocks advancing compared to 842 declines on the BSE.
Adani Enterprises emerged as the top gainer on the Nifty, surging 4.58 per cent, followed by automaker Maruti Suzuki, which rose 3.80 per cent. Tata Consumer Products advanced 2.82 per cent, while Adani Ports and Wipro gained 2.73 per cent and 2.21 per cent, respectively.
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The pharmaceutical sector faced selling pressure, with Cipla leading the losses, falling 3.56 per cent. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories declined 2.18 per cent, while banking stocks also witnessed weakness with ICICI Bank dropping 1.79 per cent. SBI Life Insurance and Shriram Finance fell 1.74 per cent and 1.71 per cent, respectively.
Sectoral indices showed mixed performance, with Nifty Bank declining 357.25 points or 0.68 per cent to 51,963.45, and Nifty Financial Services falling 0.98 per cent to 24,119.00. However, the Nifty Next 50 and Nifty Midcap Select indices showed resilience, gaining 0.35 per cent and 0.26 per cent, respectively.
Market activity remained robust, with 3,857 stocks traded on the BSE. Notable technical indicators showed 116 stocks reaching 52-week highs, while 44 touched 52-week lows. Additionally, 352 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 157 touched lower circuits.
The market’s recovery from morning losses, when the Sensex dropped 216 points and the Nifty declined 52 points, came despite continued selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who offloaded ₹548.69 crore worth of shares on October 29. However, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) provided support with purchases of ₹730.13 crore on the same day.
Trading remained cautious ahead of the F&O expiry, reflected in the India VIX’s earlier rise of 1.57 per cent, as investors balanced mixed global cues with expectations of potential Federal Reserve rate cuts.