Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty trimmed losses in the final hour of trade on Wednesday to end on a flat note. The dip earlier in the day seemed to be led by profit booking at higher levels.
The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 28.73 points or 0.05% lower at 54,525.93, while the broader NSE Nifty inched up 2.15 points or 0.01% to 16,282.25.
The top gainer in the Sensex pack was Tata Steel, which ended the day nearly 4% up. The other stocks in the 30-share Sensex which ended in the green were Reliance Industries, NTPC, PowerGrid and Bajaj Finserv.
On the other hand, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto and Sun Pharma were among the laggards.
“Following continued selling in broader markets and weak Asian and US peers, Indian indices shed its early gains. However, late recovery helped the market to close the day on a flat note,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Measures taken by BSE to curb excessive price movement in smaller stocks triggered selling pressure in small and mid-cap stocks, while clarity from BSE on limiting its restrictions to penny stocks gave some relief, he noted.
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“Mainstream sectors succumbed to profit-booking while metal, energy and infra sectors traded against the trend,” Nair added.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo ended with gains, while Seoul was in the red.
Equities in Europe were in the green in afternoon trade.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.16% to $70.74 per barrel.
After a steady rally during the previous months, the small and mid-cap stocks are witnessing consolidation for the past few trading sessions while buying interest has shifted to large caps.
The Indian rupee settled just 1 paisa lower at 74.44 against the US dollar on Wednesday amid a strong greenback overseas.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 178.51 crore, as per exchange data.
