Indian shares ended virtually unchanged on Wednesday as investors booked profits ahead of a long weekend, although broader sentiment was supported by expectations the central bank would cut interest rates at its policy review on April 5.

Caution in view of a long weekend dominated sentiment as markets will remain closed tomorrow and Friday on account of ‘Holi’ and ‘Good Friday’, respectively.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 7.07 points or 0.03 per cent at 25,337.56 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended up by 1.6 points or 0.02 per cent at 7,716.50.

The Sensex gained 1.5 per cent on the week and the Nifty advanced 1.5 per cent in a holiday-shortened week, marking a fourth consecutive weekly gain.

Among BSE sectoral indices, oil & gas index fell the most by 1.01 per cent, followed by consumer durables 1.00 per cent, power 0.28 per cent and banking 0.24 per cent. On the other hand, metal index was up 1.71 per cent, followed by TECk 0.67 per cent, IT 0.61 per cent and auto 0.56 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Tata Steel (+2.31%), Bharti Airtel (+2.06%), Bajaj Auto (+2.05%), Infosys (+1.5%) and Coal India (+1.05%), while the major losers were Reliance (-1.83%), Lupin (-1.63%), GAIL (-1.56%), NTPC (-0.82%) and M&M (-0.81%).

Asian shares slipped in subdued trading on Wednesday as investors pulled back on positions ahead of the long Easter weekend, opting for caution following the suspected Islamic State suicide bomb attacks in Brussels.

“At this juncture, with the market having run-up very sharply and ahead of the long weekend, we are seeing some degree of pressure in our market,” said Vivek Mahajan, head of research, Aditya Birla Money.

“It's more to do with the profit-booking as people do not want to keep big open positions over the weekend.”

Global markets

European shares rose on Wednesday after a dip in the previous session following deadly attacks in Brussels , with Credit Suisse stock climbing after news of more cost cuts.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.5 per cent, while the euro zone’s blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index advanced 0.6 per cent.

Asian shares slipped on Wednesday, but held near 3 1/2 month highs hit earlier this week as investors took comfort from a brightening global economic picture, as they absorbed the shock of the suspected Islamic State suicide bomb attacks in Brussels.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei inched up 0.2 per cent.

Related Topics