Profit booking on all fronts saw the Indian markets close in the red on Wednesday. The NSE Nifty closed down 0.7 per cent at 5306. The BSE Sensex ended the day at 17489, down 0.7 per cent or 130 points.
After a gain of more than one per cent, the markets saw profit-booking on all counters. On the BSE, the auto sector index declined the most, by 1.2 per cent. Only the capital goods sector index was up 0.4 per cent. Analysts say that the profit booking was also on account of TCS and Infosys results to be announced on Thursday.
A market close report from IIFL said, “Overnight losses in the US markets and weakness in the Asian indices dragged the Sensex and Nifty at opening bell. Markets remained under pressure throughout the day, with the sentiment getting further hit after a weak start to the European markets.”
The top five stocks on the BSE were L&T (up 1.2 per cent), NTPC (0.4 per cent), Infosys (0.3 per cent), GAIL (0.3 per cent) and Coal India (0.03 per cent). The top five laggards were Hindalco (down 2.7 per cent), Wipro (2.7 per cent), Tata Motors (2.03 per cent), Sterlite Industries (1.9 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (1.9 per cent).