The Sensex and Nifty ended flat on Wednesday as investors awaited key corporate results, including that of ICICI Bank Ltd, while the market watch for the outcome of a two-day policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve.
The broader NSE index closed down 1.85 points or 0.02 per cent at 9,311.95, while the benchmark BSE index ended 26.38 points or 0.09 per cent lower at 29,894.80.
Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index was the star-performer and was up 1.54 per cent, followed by IT 1.4 per cent, TECk 0.94 per cent and power 0.29 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index was down 0.98 per cent, oil & gas 0.67 per cent, metal 0.5 per cent and capital goods 0.49 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Power Grid (+2.31%), TCS (+1.98%), Infosys (+1.59%), Coal India (+1.49%) and HUL (+0.71%), while the major losers were Lupin (-3.09%), HDFC (-1.37%), ICICI Bank (-1.16%), Tata Motors (-1.11%) and Tata Steel (-1.03%).
Earnings season
As of Tuesday's close, the NSE index had gained about 1.8 per cent since April 13, when Infosys Ltd kick-started the corporate results reporting season. The BSE index has also risen about 1.6 per cent in the same period.
“There is some consolidation in the (domestic) market but broadly the trend has been positive, lifted by a better-than-expected corporate earnings season so far,” said Siddharth Purohit, a senior research analyst with Angel Broking.
“Performance in the banking sector is also good with lenders showing a pick-up in growth.”
ICICI Bank , India's No.3 lender by assets, plunged ahead of results.
United Breweries Ltd and United Breweries Holdings Ltd surged as much as 6.2 per cent and 9.9 per cent, respectively, on reports of a buyout proposal of promoter Vijay Mallya's stake in United Breweries by Dutch beer maker Heineken International BV.
Real estate company Godrej Properties rose as much as 15.7 per cent to a record high after it said it sold 1,000 apartments in Mumbai, Pune and Noida across three new projects since March 2017.
Asian shares
Asian stocks followed global indexes higher on Wednesday, as strong earnings and manufacturing data boosted risk appetite, while expectations that the Federal Reserve will signal a June rate increase later in the session lifted the dollar.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1 per cent early on Wednesday, within a hair of a near-two-year high hit on Tuesday.