AGENCY
NEW DELHI, Apr 16
Sensex and Nifty ended in the positive territory for the third consecutive session on Wednesday, with gains led by banking heavyweights.
At close, the Sensex was up 309.40 points or 0.40% at 77,044.29, and the Nifty was up 108.65 points or 0.47% at 23,437.20.
BSE Midcap index rose 0.5% and the smallcap index jumped nearly 1%. The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms rose to nearly Rs 415 lakh crore from Rs 412 lakh crore in the previous session.
On Nifty50, as many as 33 stocks ended higher, with some of the top performers being IndusInd Bank (up 6.74%), Axis Bank (up 4.33%), and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (up 3.50%).
The shares of Maruti (1.60%), Hindalco (1.29%), and Tata Motors (0.98%) ended as the top losers.
Among the sectors, all major sectoral indices ended with gains, barring Nifty Auto, down 0.43%, Pharma, down 0.18%, and Healthcare, down by 0.18%. Nifty Bank rose 1.41%, while the Financial Services index climbed 0.84%. Further, the Nifty PSU Bank index jumped 2.37%, while the Private Bank index jumped 1.74%.
Axis Bank emerged as the top gainer on the index, rising nearly 4%. Federal Bank traded 1.6% higher while Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank (PNB) shares were trading over 1% higher each.
Nifty Metal index cooled off after a two-day rally to end a percent lower. Hindalco, JSW Steel, Hind Zinc, and other metal shares fell by 2% amid US-China trade war fears.
Gensol Engineering shares tanked 5% as its promoters were barred from accessing equity markets. Notably, SEBI has barred Gensol promoters Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi from holding any directorial position in the company. The regulator has debarred the two brothers from accessing the market.
On BSE, nearly 80 stocks touched a 52-week high. These included Narayana Hrudayalaya, Eicher Motors, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, SBI Cards, Shree Cements, Chambal Fertilisers, and AstraZeneca Pharma, among others.
While a trade war is negative for the global economy, experts say the domestic economy may be relatively less affected than countries like China.
Among global performers, the European indices were weak, with tech stocks leading the slump.
Asian markets ended on a mixed note, with the Taiwan Weighted and Hang Seng down 2% each, while Straits Times was up 0.5%.
